S 679 
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Copy 1 



INCREASE 
THE CROP 

PER ACRE 



^ 



USE OF DYNAMITE 
ON THE FARM 



Issued by 
THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 




Intensive Farming 

and Use of 

Dynamite 




Issued by 

THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 

March, 1911 






Copyrighted 191 1 by 
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



©CU283?34 



INDEX 

PAGE 

Bar for Punching Holes 51 

Bigtree Stumps 31 

Blasting Caps 93 

Blasting by Electricity - 94 

Blasting Machines ... 96 

Blasting Supplies -- _ 93 

Boulder Blasting 39 

Burning Out Stumps 1 7 

Caps : Blasting . 93 

Cap Crimpers 94 

Cedar Stumps : Western - 29 

Cellar Digging 55 

Charging 91 

Clearing Land 13 

Connecting Wire 97 

Cultivating Fruit Trees 79 

Cypress Stumps - 33 

Detonators . 86 

Ditching - 45 

Draining Swamps 53 

Electrical Blasting 94 

Electric Fuzes 97 

Explosives : Principle of 85 

Felling Trees 35 

Fir Stumps: Western 29 

Foundations : Excavating for 55 

Fuse ■ , 93 

Fuzes: Electric 97 

3 



H A NDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

PAGE 

Hardpan Blasting o3 

Ice Blasting '^ 

Implements Used in Land Clearing 1 9 

Introduction ' 

Leading Wire "7 

Log Jams oZ 

Log Splitting ^^ 

Note - 92 

Ordering 98 

Packages of Explosives 86 

Pine Stumps: Southern 25 

Pine Stumps : Western 29 

Planting Fruit Trees / 1 

Plowing with Dynamite 63 

Post Hole Digging 3 7 

Precautions - 99 

Priming - 89-98 

Principle of Explosives 85 

Redwood Stumps 3 1 

Road Building 55 

Second-Growth Stumps 27 

Sinking Wells .. 57 

Southern Pine Stumps 25 

Splitting Logs 35 

Storage of Explosives 86 

Stump Blasting 32 

4 



INDEX CONTINUED 

PAGE 

Stump Blasting; Advantages of |3 

Cost of I 5 

Gauging the Charge - 1 5 

Proper Explosive for |4 

Subsoil Blasting 63 

Sw^amp Draining - 53 

Tamping - 92 

Thawing of Dynamite . - - 87 

Thawing Kettles 87 

Transportation of Explosives 86 

Tree Felling 35 

Tree Planting and Cultivating 71 

Well Sinking - 57 

Western Cedar Stumps 29 

Western Fir Stumps 29 

Western Pine Stumps 29 

Wire: Leading and Connecting 97 



INTRODUCTION 



NOT many years ago the farm was about the last place where 
one would expect to find up-to-date mechanical appliances. 
Steam, explosives, electricity — the factors which have made 
the world what it is to-day — were indispensable for the railroad 
and the steamboat, the factory and the mine, but the farmer's work 
was generally run on a comparatively small scale, and was mostly 
done by the muscles of men or draft animals. To-day, however, 
the farmer, as well as the manufacturer, the contractor and the 
miner, fully appreciates the value of labor-saving devices. Every 
up-to-date farm, large or small, has modern machinery that tends 
to reduce the cost of production or to improve farm products. 

Explosives were first used in warfare and hunting, then for 
blasting. Their early use in mining and excavating was very limited, 
but it did not take long to learn that, if used in the right way, they 
could do in an instant as much work as a man, or even a machine, 
could do in many days. As soon as this was understood, explosives 
were applied to new kinds of work and special kinds of explosives 
were produced, particularly adapted to these new uses. 

The history of the use of explosives in farming has been much 
the same as in other industries. At first it was supposed that they 
could only be used for loosening stumps, so that they could be dug 
out more easily. Later on, after stump blasting had been carefully 
studied, and more suitable and cheaper explosives manufactured, it 
was found that by far the cheapest and quickest way to get rid of 
a stump of any size, no matter what kind of soil it stood in, was 
to lift it completely out of the ground, and split it up at the same 
time, with explosives. 

About this time it was discovered that it was cheaper to blast 
out boulders and plant the ground they occupied than to plow around 
them. Then some enterprising farmer who had had trouble with 
foundations settling, decided that it was a good plan to build his 
house and his barns on rock, and learned that it did not cost much 



INTRODUCTION 

to do the necessary blasting for foundations and cellars. This led 
to the idea of blasting the rock encountered in digging drains, and 
in using a small quantity of explosives to hurry along the work 
of digging holes for fence posts and for poles. The rock met with 
in sinking wells was soon cut through with explosives. Early in 
the spring, when the ice came down the streams, and a gorge at 
the bridge threatened to cause a flood and carry away the bridge 
too, a little dynamite quickly relieved the situation. In lumber 
districts, log jams were started in the same way, and the use of a 
small quantity of explosives saved time and trouble on the rollway. 

A few years ago the plan of breaking up hardpan and other 
impervious sub-soils was tried by Samuel J. Crawford, then gov- 
ernor of Kansas, and a number of other influential Kansans who 
were interested in farming. The results of their experiments were 
so successful that hardpan is now being blasted quite generally, and 
many acres of land, which were practically worthless before they 
were blasted, are now bearing phenomenal crops. 

The most recently discovered plan of saving money by using 
dynamite is in blasting ditches and in draining swamps by blowing 
holes through the impervious clay under them. Dynamite has long 
been used to shatter rock encountered in digging drains and ditches, 
but ditches through earth have never been excavated entirely with 
explosives until recently. 

Many fruit growers know how great a help dynamite is in 
planting fruit trees and in keeping them thrifty. The ground where 
the tree is to be planted can be loosened up, and the hole partly 
dug, in a moment, by exploding a very small charge of dynamite 
a short distance below the surface. 

Good roads about the farm are practically indispensable, and 
they cannot be built quickly or cheaply without at least some ex- 
plosives. 

Explosives are also used to advantage for splitting logs for 
rails or any other purpose, for felling trees, destroying old buildings 
and for almost any kind of work where a strong force, quickly ap- 
plied, is desirable. Dynamite is simply concentrated power or 
condensed strength. In order to have it work in the correct way, 
and move in the right direction, it must be properly harnessed and 
the bit kept in its mouth, but this is easily done if the directions 
given in this handbook are followed intelligently. 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

As time passes, farmers will find other ways of saving money 
by using explosives, for the demand for farm products is increasing 
so rapidly that greater acreage must be put under cultivation, and || 
the old acres must increase their yield. In order to do this success- "' 
fully and to meet competition, every device and arrangement that 
really saves labor and makes for economy, either in the present or 
the future, must be adopted. The farmer who fails to realize 
this, and still believes that he can get along in the old way, will 
soon find himself hopelessly defeated. 



iO 



THE FIRST STAGE 



CLEARING THE LAND 



BLASTING OUT STUMPS 
FELLING TREES 
SPLITTING LOGS 
BLASTING BOULDERS 




A FUTURE SUBJECT 



CLEARING THE LAND 



EVER since the first white man started a permanent settlement 
in this country, the transformation of forests into farms has 
been continuous. So great is the total of land clearing 
operations to-day, and so large is the annual expenditure in this 
work, that it has become a factor of prime importance m the national 
economy, and the necessity for a careful study of all of its phases, 
to the end of improving the various methods now in practice, is every- 
where recognized. 

If, after the passing of the wood-chopper and the sawmill, the 
land were ready for the plow, there would be no problem to solve; 
but a great area covered with stumps — thirty, fifty, a hundred, two 
hundred to the acre — often with boulders scattered here and there, 
is very far from a crop-bearing proposition. This, however, is what 
many of our farms are made from, and the question is, how to 
bring about the necessary transformation without spending more 
than the probable returns will warrant. 

For generations farmers have chopped, burned and dug away 
at stumps which have slowly yielded to their efforts. To-day a 
quicker and more effective way of getting rid of them is imperative. 
The subject has been studied and experimented with for years by 
the Agricultural Departments of the National Government and of 
different States, by many large land companies, by railroads and 
by thousands of individuals. Numerous ideas and plans have been 
suggested and worked out, but none of them has been successful or 
economical without the use of dynamite. When explosives are 
properly used, stumps and boulders are not only blasted out of the 
ground, but are at the same time broken into pieces which can be 
easily handled — burned, if stumps, or, if boulders, used for build- 
ing roads, etc. 

When a stump is properly blasted, but little of the soil is thrown 
out with it, and it is not necessary to spend time and money clearing 
the earth from the roots, and filling a great hole in the ground, as 
must be done when the stump is taken out with a stump puller. 

13 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

Neither is any special fertilization of the spot formerly occupied 
by the stump, necessary to bring it into proper crop-bearing condi- 
tion, as must be done after a stump has been burned out. 

Only a very small outlay is necessary at one time when explo- 
sives are used, and one man can work with them just as well as a 
dozen or a hundred. When the proper explosive is selected, and 




A FIVE-FOOT DIAMETER WASHINGTON FIR WINDFALL SHOWING 
THE ENORMOUS SPREAD OF THE ROOTS 

when It is used in the right way, there is no cheaper method of get- 
ting rid of stumps or boulders. 

There are many kinds of dynamite, each expressly intended to 
do a particular kind of work, and as the conditions under which 
stumps and boulders are blasted differ widely, it is not possible to 
recommend any one grade for general use. 

14 



CLEARING THE LAND 

On the Pacific Slope, where the stumps are of great size, 
stumping powder is the favorite, but in other parts of this country, 
where the stumps are smaller, dynamite is used almost exclusively. 

It is equally difficult to state accurately, the quantity or strength 
of the explosive necessary to blast out a stump of a given diameter. 
This is because the size of the stump is not the only factor, and 
perhaps not even the most important one to consider, when esti- 
mating the charge required. Whether the soil in which the stump 
stands is wet or dry, light or heavy, the kind of wood, age of the 
stump, the nature and position of the roots, etc., are all matters of 
great importance when determining the quantity, strength and loca- 
tion of the charge of explosives. Careful records have, however, 
been kept of the cost of explosives, including blasting caps and 
fuse or electric fuzes, used in blasting stumps in different parts of 
the country, some of which we give below: 

Average Cott 
Average of Explosives 

Diameter per Stump 

768 Southern Pine Stumps 29" 30c 

78 Oak, Walnut, Gum, etc., Stumps in Illinois 30 53c 
329 White Pme, Oak, Maple, Birch, etc.. 

Stumps in Michigan 32 47c 

37 Apple, Ash, Oak and Chestnut Stumps in 

Pennyslvania 34^" 56c 

77 Washington Fir Stumps 50" $1.13 

The explosive used in most cases, except for blasting the Wash- 
ington firs, was 40 per cent, dynamite. The fir stumps were blasted 
with 20 per cent, strength stumping powder and low powder (5 
per cent, strength). These calculations are based on retail, not 
wholesale prices. 

Records kept by A. J. McGuire, Superintendent of the North- 
east Experimental Farm of the University of Minnesota, show 
even lower costs. 

Some of Mr. McGuire's records are as follows: 

Average Cost 
Average of Explosives 

Diameter per Stump 

255 Popple 14" 12c 

255 Jack Pine, Norway Pine and White Pine 14 1/3" 18c 
395 Birch, Ash, Spruce, Pine, etc 20" 1 6c 

15 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

Mr. McGuire used 25 per cent, to 40 per cent, ammonia 
dynamite, and states that the best and most economical resuhs were 
had with lb per cent, and 27 per cent, grades. 

The Iowa State College recently blasted eighty-two oak and 
elm stumps and trees averaging 20 inches in diameter, at an aver- 
age cost of about 38 cents each for explosives. 

On a large land clearing operation in Minnesota during the 
summer of 1 909, eight thousand, nine hundred and seventy stumps 
were blasted out. Although a considerable number of these were 




WASHINGTON FIR STUMPS 



large pme stumps, an average of less than three-quarters of a 
pound of dynamite per stump was used. 

Accurate records of the cost of blasting stumps on a Long 
Island farm, mcluding the wages of the men who did the work, were 
recently kept by representatives of the Long Island Railroad Com- 



16 



CLEARING THE LAND 

pany. The entire cost of blasting out and burning up one hundred 
stumps was only $16. 

Although one unaccustomed to using explosives might find the 
costs running higher at the start than some of those given above, 
it does not require an unusual amount of experience to learn approxi- 
mately the minimum charge required to blast stumps. 

When cut-over land, which is covered with stumps and 
boulders, can be cleared, and turned into farms at a profit, it is 
hard to understand why anyone should let stumps or boulders take 
up valuable land, plowing around them year after year. A lot of 
time is wasted swinging around even a few stumps and boulders 
when plowing a field, to say nothing of the damage to plow, harness 
and team if a root is struck. Besides this, each medium-sized stump, 
with its spreading roots, or even a comparatively small boulder, 
will take up the space of many stalks of corn or of other crops. 
It has been estimated that a single stump of average size occupies 
as much ground as would support six hills of corn. 



The corn from six hills would in a very few years 
pay for enough dynamite to blow out many stumps 
and boulders. 



One suggestion which should be made to those who have land 
to clear is: Always do your stump blasting, if possible, when the 
ground is wet. Almost every kind of ground when it is wet, offers 
stronger resistance to the action of dynamite than it does when dry. 
Therefore, when the ground is wet a stump or boulder can be 
blasted out with less dynamite than when the same ground is dry. 

One of the most objectionable methods of trying to get rid of 
stumps is burning them out. When stumps have been blasted out 
and split up with dynamite, it is an easy matter to heap up the 
pieces and burn them, but to burn a standing stump is a different 
proposition. Those who have tried it can testify to the time spent 
in keeping the fire going, and that it is practically impossible in this 
way to get rid of much of the stump below the surface of the ground. 
Probably the worst feature of burning out stumps is the damage 

17 



CLEARING THE LA N D 

done to the ground by the fire, which burns out the humus to such 
an extent, that it requires much cultivation to bring the ground where 
the stump was burned mto good condition. The following from the 
Tacoma Wash., ''Ledger of October 20, 1909, explains very 
clearly the damage done to new land by burning out stumps: 

"Last summer Prof. W. J. McGee, of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, in cooperation with Prof. Henry 
Landes, Dr. Benson and Dr. Fry, of the State Univer- 
sity, studied the best methods of utilizing cut-over or 
logged-off lands. Prof. McGee gives some of the find- 
ings, and they argue strongly against burning cut-over 
lands. Fire destroys the humus in the soil, and when 
the humus is gone, the fertility is greatly lessened. The 
danger of burning logged-off lands is that the fire will 
burn the humus for some distance below the surface. 
When the humus is burned out, it takes time to build up 
a fertile soil again. The fire destroys the work it took 
nature many years to do." 

The implements needed in stump and boulder blasting are few 
and inexpensive, and most of them are always to be found on the 
farm. 

Big stumps like those found along the Pacific Coast usually 
require a comparatively bulky charge of low-grade explosives, 
which means that a large hole must be dug. In case the stump is 
very large it is best to dig a trench under it, using a little dyna- 
mite to assist in the digging. In this work a pick or mattock 
and a long-handle shovel are necessary. As a matter of fact these 
two tools, and an axe, are usually required, no matter how the 
hole for the explosive is made. 

For medium-size and smaller stumps, a two-mch wood auger 
to drill under the stump (and into the tap root if there is one), is 
necessary, and a crowbar with one pointed end and one chisel end 
IS very useful. One of the most important implements used in stump 
blasting, IS the tamping stick. This must have no metal about it. 
The tamping sticks used on the Pacific Coast are six to eight feet 
long and two to three inches in diameter. For tamping the holes 
under other stumps a stick five or six feet long and one and a half 
inches in diameter is large enough. 

19 




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CLEARING 



THE 



LAND 



For blasting large boulders it may be necessary to use a ham- 
mer and hand drill, unless they are to be broken by mudcapping 
or by placing the explosive underneath them. The hole under the 
boulder can be made with a crowbar. If the boulder is drilled, 
a small tamping stick, from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in 
diameter should be used. If the charge is put under the boulder, 
the tamping stick should be one and a half inches in diameter and 
five or SIX feet long. Hardwood tamping sticks are, of course, best, 
because they last longest. 




-E MORE OUT OF THE WAY 



21 



BLASTING STUMPS 



IT IS usually necessary in blasting stumps to place the charge as 
close as possible to the toughest part of the stump, so that the 
part most difficult to break will be hit first and hardest. Gen- 
erally this spot will be directly under the middle of the stump, and 
it is sometimes necessary to bore into the tap root. When a very 
big stump is rotten at the middle, but has several large branching 
roots, better results will be had, if the charge is increased a little 
and located deeper in the ground, or if under each of the large roots 
a small charge is placed, and all of the charges fired simultaneously 
with a blastmg machine. 



^^^^^ ""l^^^ffi ' 




r^^s 


ij : : ■ - ■' 



STUMP BOUND WITH CHAIN 



In order to keep the explosive from splitting the stump, and 
wasting a part of the force which should be expended in lifting 
it out, it is the practice of some blasters to wind a stout chain around 
the stump several times. It is a good idea to use a chain with all 
hollow stumps. 

Some large stumps can be effectively removed by exploding 
simultaneously, charges loaded m holes bored from different sides, 
so that they will mtersect under the center of the stump. The 
cartridge containing the detonator (blasting cap or electric fuze) 

23 



CLEARING THE LAND 

should be loaded first, so that it will be at the intersection of the 
holes; then the different holes should be loaded, making sure that 
the first cartridge in each hole touches the primer (the cartridge 
containing the detonator) . When the primer is exploded, it will 
explode the entire charge. 

If the above directions are closely adhered to, the general run 
of stumps can be blown out satisfactorily and cheaply. The stumps 
of some kinds of trees, however, require special treatment to get 
the best results, and detailed instructions concerning them are given 
in the following pages. 

Southern Pine Stumps 

The use of explosives in blasting southern pine stumps, 
especially in very sandy soils, has not been generally recommended 
in the past, because the cost has seemed high in comparison with 
the value of the land. The increased value of land and the improve- 
ments in explosives have, however, now made it entirely feasible to 
remove these stumps with dynamite. This work can be done with 
less dynamite, if a good team of horses with a bull chain is used 
to pull out pieces and drag them from the field. 

Pine stumps should be considered in two classes — those with 
tap roots and those without. The first part of a pine stump to rot is 
the tap root, and a field that looks very discouraging will often be 
found easy to clear. 

In blasting southern pine stumps the important feature is to 
place the explosive close to the point of greatest resistance, which 
is in the tap root directly under the center of the stump. This 
tap root can usually be located by digging underneath the smooth 
side of the stump. When the tap root is located, dig an opening, 
one to two feet deep, down by the side of the tap root; then bore 
an auger hole two inches in diameter into the tap root on an angle 
of from 35 degrees to 50 degrees. The auger hole should be 
bored not less than three-quarters of the way through the tap 
root; care being taken not to drill entirely through, for by so doing 
a great deal of the explosive force would be wasted in the back of 
the hole, which would then be in the ground. Load with from one 
to three l^x8-inch cartridges (depending on the size and age of 
the stump), of 40 per cent, dynamite, and tamp firmly to the sur- 
face with damp clay. The blast will cut off the tap root twenty 

25 




BLASTING STUMPS AT IVOR, VIRGINIA 



CLEARING THE LAND 

to thirty-six inches below the surface and turn out the stump in 
pieces. These stumps can also be blown out without takmg the 
time to bore into the tap root, if a little larger charge of dynamite 
be placed firmly against the tap root a foot or two below the sur- 
face and closely confined with tamping. A convenient implement 
for making the hole in the ground when blasting in this way is a 
three-inch post-hole auger. 

When the tap root is to be bored into, it is advisable to use a 
two-inch wood auger, as the dynamite can then be more closely 
compressed under the center of the stump where the resistance is 
greatest. If clay cannot be found to tamp the charge under the 
first stump blasted, use sand. After one stump is blasted, you 
can usually find good tamping material at the bottom of its roots. 

Careful record was recently kept, in order to arrive definitely 
at the exact cost of explosives necessary to properly blast out these 
southern pine stumps. Three hundred and twenty-five stumps were 
blasted which averaged in diameter 28^ inches, and the cost of 
explosives, including dynamite, fuse and blasting caps, or electric 
fuzes, averaged a little more than 18 cents per stump. 

Southern pine stumps without tap roots are sometimes found 
in land having a sandy top soil with a hard subsoil. In this case 
30 per cent, dynamite may give the best results. The charge should 
be placed under the middle of, and as close to the stump as pos- 
sible. 

Second-Growth Stumps 

There is often directly under a second-growth stump, the 
decayed remains of the original stump; this is soft, and the force 
of the explosive when placed on it, seems to merely scatter this 
dead wood and has no marked effect upon the stump. To over- 
come this difficulty, it is a good plan to dig under the stump and 
place a good-sized flat stone between the roots, leaving only room 
on top of the stone for the dynamite. Damp clay should then 
be firmly packed around the dynamite. This gives the explo- 
sive sufficient resistance to lift out the stump. Thirty per cent, 
or 40 per cent, dynamite should be used. It should be remem- 
bered that best results will be had from the explosives recom- 
mended for blasting the above stumps, if they are exploded with 
No. 6 or stronger detonators. 

27 




CO a? 
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GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

Western Fir, Pine and Cedar Stumps 

In the States of Washington, Oregon and CaHfornia, where 
the rainfall is large and the ground in the forests is always damp, 
many of the trees grow to great size — some being eight or ten feet 
in diameter. The roots of these trees usually spread out near the 
surface and do not grow deep into the ground, as might be 
expected, tap roots being extremely rare. The object when blast- 
ing the stumps of these trees is not to split them, but to bring them 
out entire at one blast, with all of the roots possible, because if 
the charge of explosives is so gauged and located as to split the 
stump, it generally fails to bring out all of the pieces. As the 
principal object is to get out as much of the stump as possible 
at a minimum cost, it is better to blast it out first and then it can 
be easily spHt afterward, by means of a small quantity of dyna- 
mite exploded in auger holes. 

The common rule in blasting these stumps is to use one and 
one-half pounds of stumping powder per foot of diameter, with 
stumps up to four feet, when the bottom is clay. For larger sizes 
it is advisable to use two to two and one-half pounds of this powder 
for each foot in diameter. For stumps in gravelly or loose ground 
one pound more should be used for each foot in diameter. 

The charge of explosives is best placed when there is sixteen 
to twenty-four inches of earth between the charge and the bottom 
of the stump. This results in the force of the explosion radiating 
to all sides, lifting the stump clear of the ground, and bringing with 
it the greatest length of roots. If the charge is placed too close 
to the stump, the effect is to split it, leaving the roots to be dug 
out at extra labor and expense. It is advisable with large stumps 
to chamber, or expand, the bottom of the hole, so that the entire 
charge can be concentrated under the center of the stump. To do 
this a hole is bored beneath the stump by means of a dirt auger 
or small post-hole auger. In this hole a small charge is usually 
exploded with fuse and blasting cap and no tamping is used. 
The quantity of explosives to be used in chambering, depends, of 
course, on the size of the charge necessary to blast out the stump. 
Usually from half a cartridge to two cartridges of stumping powder 
will be sufficient. After the hole is chambered the blasting charge 
should be loaded in the usual way and thoroughly tamped. 

29 



CLEARING THE LAND 

Redwood and '''Bigtree Stumps 

The best explosive for these stumps is a comparatively slow- 
acting explosive, which has more of a lifting and heaving, than a 
shattering effect. 

The way to approximately estimate the quantity of explo- 
sive necessary to blast out stumps larger than eight feet in diameter, 
is to square the largest diameter in feet, the result being approxi- 
mately the number of pounds required. For example, if a stump 
is eight feet in diameter the largest way, the charge should be 
about sixty-four pounds. Stumps less than eight feet m diameter 
require a little greater charge for their size than do the larger 
stumps, and the rule with them is to use as many pounds as eight 
times the largest diameter in feet. On this basis a stump six feet 
in diameter would need about forty-eight pounds of powder. How- 
ever, the successful blasting of these large stumps depends greatly 
on the judgment of the blaster, and these rules can only be con- 
sidered as a general guide. This can easily be understood when 
it is remembered that, owing to difference in soil or some pecu- 
liarity in the growth of the tree, it sometimes requires the same 
quantity of explosives to properly bring out a stump six feet in 
diameter as it does one eight feet in diameter. 

In blasting these stumps a trench is dug large enough to per- 
mit placing the entire charge of explosives directly underneath the 
center of the stump. A little dynamite blasted in holes punched 
with a crowbar will prove of great assistance in digging this trench. 
If low powder is used and the ground is wet, the charge should be 
placed in a waterproof bag. 

A detonator equivalent to, or stronger than a No. 6 blast- 
ing cap, or electric fuze, should always be used in one of the 
priming cartridges. The proper way to make the primer is shown 
on pages 88 and 90. If several cartridges are used as a primer, they 
should be tied in a compact bundle with the primed cartridge in 
the center. 

Avoid being on the same side of the stump as the trench when 
the blast is fired, as fragments, etc., are thrown with more violence 
and to greater distances on that side. 

* "Bigtree" is the name given to the "Sequoia Washingtoniana," one of the gigantic trees of the Pacific Northwest. 

31 




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CLEARING THE LAND 

Stumping powder is also used in blasting California redwood 
stumps. The illustration on page 28 shows two large redwood 
stumps which had practically one root below the surface, although 
this root had separated above ground into two trees. The cir- 
cumference of the stump just above the surface of the ground was 
seventy-five feet. This stump was completely removed, as shown 
on pages 28, 30 and 32, with ninety-three pounds of stumping 
powder. Six trenches were dug under the stump at different points, 
five of these being loaded each with twenty-five I ^ x 8-inch car- 
tridges of this explosive, and the sixth with thirty I ^ x 8-inch car- 
tridges. These charges were then connected up electrically, and 
the trenches were thoroughly and compactly tamped above the 
explosives to the surface of the ground. The six charges were 
then fired simultaneously with a blastmg machine. The illustra- 
tion on page 28 shows the blasting machine used and the cartridges 
of stumping powder on the ground preparatory to charging the 
trenches. 

Cypress Stumps 

Cypress stumps are found, as a rule, in swamps where the 
soil is a soggy muck often covered with water. Through the land- 
reclaiming operations in the Southern States many of these swamps 
have been drained, leaving land of wonderful fertility. The cypress 
stumps have no tap root, but have large "spreaders'* reaching out in 
all directions to such an extent that they are interwoven with those 
of neighboring stumps, forming a tangle of roots that never rot. 
The strongest and quickest dynamite in the hands of careful blasters 
gives the best results in this work. The common practice is to place 
1 ^ X 8-inch cartridges under each of the principal spreaders, and 
fire all simultaneously by means of a blasting machine. The cypress 
wood, being extremely soft, splits easily, and the quick explosive 
shatters the stump and releases it from the entangling roots. 

In order to obtain the best results in blasting cypress stumps the 
electric system of blasting should be employed. Sixty per cent, 
dynamite detonated with a No. 6 electric fuze is recommended for 
this work. 

When cypress stumps are not blasted until after the swamps 
have been drained, 40 per cent, dynamite should be used. 

33 



CLEARING THE LAND 

FELLING TREES 

Occasionally when clearing land of growing timber, it is of 
advantage to blast out the entire tree and saw off the root after- 
ward. The process here is exactly the same as in stump blast- 
ing, but little, if any, more dynamite being required to bring out 
the tree, roots and all, than to blast the stump after the tree has 
been cut. The blast lifts the tree straight up a foot or two ; then it 
falls, generally with the wind. 

SPLITTING STUMPS AND LOGS 

When stumps, particularly large ones, are blasted out whole 
or nearly so, it is usually necessary to split them up so that they 
can be conveniently handled or burned. This can be readily 
accomplished with dynamite; only a small quantity being required, 
if the charge is properly tamped in auger holes bored part way 
through the stump. 

In the South the pine stumps are very large producers of tur- 
pentine and by-products. Before the wood in the stump can be 
distilled, it must be broken into pieces small enough to suit the 
retort. Nothing is so effective as dynamite for breaking up a 
stump for this purpose. Charges of a few inches of dynamite 
exploded simultaneously in several auger holes bored in the stump, 
will shatter it into exactly the size required. 

When logs are split up to be burned quickly, the same method 
is used as when splitting stumps; but if they are to be split for 
fence rails, cord-wood, charcoal, or other purposes where compara- 
tively even and regular sections are required, blasting powder may 
be used. This explosive is so much slower in action than dyna- 
mite that a series of properly gauged and properly placed charges 
will split a log along the grain, just as evenly as if a number 
of wedges were used. This method of splitting logs is so much 
quicker, cheaper and easier than any other, that those who have 
once become proficient at it, never give it up. Auger holes are 
bored along the line of the grain, about one-quarter to one-half 
of the way through the log, the depth of the holes and the dis- 
tance between them depending on the kind of wood, the grain and 
the diameter of the log. A few ounces of FF blasting powder 
is put into the bottom of each hole, care being first taken to see that 

35 




1.1 



II^ 



CLEARING THE LAND 

the hole is dry, then wooden plugs are driven firmly into the tops 
of the holes to tamp or confine the charge. In some kinds of 
wood it is best to leave a considerable air space between the bot- 
tom of the plug and the powder. The plugs must have a groove 
in the side large enough to admit the electric squib wires or fuse. 
As blastmg powder is exploded by a spark or flame it is not neces- 
sary to use a detonator (blastmg cap or electric fuze) when blast- 
ing with it. If electric squibs and a blasting machine are used for 
exploding the charges, they can all be fired simultaneously. This 
usually is the best and cheapest way, as a little less powder is 
required than when the charges are exploded separately with fuse. 
Electric squibs are similar in appearance to electric fuzes, except 
that they have a paper capsule instead of a copper cap. They do 
not explode when the electric current passes through them, but 
ignite the blasting powder by a flash. When using electric squibs, 
it is only necessary to have the groove or channel in the sides of the 
wooden plugs large enough for the two small wires to run through 
it, if the cap of the electric squib is put in place before the plug is 
driven in. When driving the plug care must be taken that the wires 
are kept free, and that the insulation on them is not abraded. If 
it is not convenient to provide wooden plugs in this work, damp 
clay tamping may be used on top of a wad of newspaper. A log 
two feet in diameter, and four or five feet long, can usually be split 
in two with one two-ounce charge of FF blasting powder, fired as 
described above. Longer logs require two or more holes, and logs 
of greater diameter require heavier charges. The holes should be 
from one and one-eighth to two inches in diameter. 

Logs up to six feet in length can be split at once into a 
number of pieces, by exploding a single charge of low-grade dyna- 
mite in a hole bored about twelve or fourteen inches straight into 
the center of one end. Two ounces is about the right charge for 
a log two feet in diameter. 



37 



BOULDER BLASTING 




THE BOULDER — BEFORE THE BLAST 



THERE are three ways in which boulders can be blasted. 
These are known as "Mudcapping," "Snakeholing" and 
"Blockholing." '*Mudcapping" and *'Snakeholing'* are 
the easier and quicker methods, but require more dynamite. It is 
almost impossible to shatter large round boulders of hard rock by 
either of these methods, without using an excessive quantity of ex- 
plosives, which makes blockholing necessary with boulders of this 
kind. 



Mudcapping (*'Doby Shooting'' or ** Blistering'') 

Boulders may frequently be broken by exploding a small 
charge of dynamite on their surface. The charge should be placed 
on the spot which would be struck with a sledge if the boulder was 
to be broken in that way. The dynamite should be packed in a 
solid mass by slitting the paper cartridge shells, but should not be 
spread over the surface of the boulder any more than absolutely 
necessary. A blasting cap crimped on to fuse should be placed 
in the middle of the charge, and the whole covered with six inches 
of damp clay or sand. This material should be pressed firmly 
over the mass of dynamite, care being taken not to cover the free 

39 




BLASTING A BOULDER 



CLEARING THE LAND 

end of the fuse. It is advisable if the boulder is deeply imbedded 
in the ground, to dig away or loosen some of the earth surrounding 
it before blasting. 

If the boulder is cracked or seamy, the best results may be 
secured by placing the charge in some depression and covering it 
with a quantity of clay or sand. This will furnish more resistance 
and make available a greater force from the explosive. 

The quantity and grade of explosives required naturally 
depend on the size and shape of the boulder. The "grain'* and 
kind of rock are also important points. Forty per cent, dynamite 
is the grade recommended, and the quantity required will vary from 
one to ten pounds, the latter quantity being necessary only when the 
boulder is a very large one. The dynamite should be exploded 
with a No. 6 detonator. 

Snakeholing 

Proceed as in stump blasting, taking care that the hole in the 
ground be made under a flat or hollow side of the boulder and 
not under a bulging side. Make a hole with a crowbar or a 
dirt auger, close up under the center of the boulder and load 
the dynamite into the hole in the same manner as you would for 
stump blasting. Care should also be taken when the charge is 
placed, to leave no means by which the force of the dynamite 
may escape. If it has not been thoroughly tamped, or if it is 
too near the surface of the ground, and not in the proper position 
beneath the boulder, the dynamite may blow the dirt out and leave 
the boulder untouched. 

Dynamite of 30 per cent, to 40 per cent, strength should be 
used when breaking up boulders in this way. Only from one-half 
to two-thirds the quantity of dynamite, that would be required to 
mudcap the same boulder, is needed provided the boulder has a 
hollow or concave side underneath. The results are better in damp, 
heavy soil than in light or sandy soil. 

Blockholing 

This is the most economical method of using dynamite to 
break up boulders, and although it takes some time and labor to 
drill the one or more necessary holes in the boulder, it will often 
be found the most satisfactory in the long run. The holes in 

41 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

large boulders should be an inch or more in diameter, while three- 
quarters or seven-eighths of an inch will answer for the smaller 
ones. To properly break up a boulder weighing about ten tons, 
a hole should be drilled in it from ten to twenty inches deep, as 
the shape and grain of the rock may demand, and large enough 
in diameter to hold a pound or more of dynamite with the neces- 
sary tamping. Smaller boulders require holes from four to six 
inches in depth, which, if necessary, can be filled full of dyna- 
mite, and no tamping used. 

Thirty per cent, dynamite will usually give best results in 
blockholing, unless the boulders are very large and hard, when 
40 per cent, should be used. 




THE BOULDER — AFTER THE BLAST 



42 



THE SECOND STAGE 



Getting the Farm in Shape 



DIGGING DITCHES 

DRAINING SWAMPS 

GRADING ROADS 

EXCAVATING FOR BUILDING 
FOUNDATIONS AND CELLARS 

SINKING WELLS 

DIGGING HOLES FOR FENCE- 
POSTS 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 



WHEN the land has been cleared the work of getting the 
farm into shape begins. Ditches must be dug to prop- 
erly drain the fields — particularly the swampy ones, 
where often the best soil is found. Roads must be constructed, 
wells sunk, barns, houses and other buildings erected, fences built, 
and so on. Dynamite is necessary in every one of these opera- 
tions, if the work is to be done expeditiously and economically. The 
information to be found in the succeeding pages, as well as that 
already given, has been secured entirely from farmers and others 
who have used explosives for the various purposes described. 

DITCHING 

Ditches for draining, and trenches for pipe lines and tiling, 
are necessary on every farm, and should always be dug with 
explosives. The ditching which pays best is that which drains 
swampy lands. There are about seventy million acres of this land 
in the United States, much of which would bear magnificent crops, 
if drained. The cost of draining by the usual method of dig- 
ging ditches by hand or machine, has been almost prohibitive, with 
the result that this land is still lying idle. Now that it has been 
found that dynamite will dig ditches through any swamp where 
a man can penetrate, no matter how thick the vegetation cover- 
ing it may be, there is no reason why the large majority of this 
seventy million acres of swamp land should not be cultivated. 

When a ditch is blasted there is no outlay for expensive equip- 
ment, because the only machinery necessary is an iron bar, pointed 
at one end. In hard, dry ground, a sledge or maul is needed to 
drive the bar down to the necessary depth. There is no delay 
and expense getting machinery into place through swamps and 
thickets. Not even a team is needed when ditches are dug with 
dynamite, for one or two men can easily carry sufficient dyna- 
mite to dig a ditch four or five hundred feet long, four or five 
feet wide, and three or four feet deep. 

45 




II 
I 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

When ditches are dug with dynamite the material taken from 
the ditch is practically all thrown out by the blast, and little or no 
shoveling is necessary. This material is not heaped up along the 
sides of the ditch, where it would occupy land that should be 
raising crops, and would prevent free drainage into the ditch, but 
is spread evenly over the ground for a considerable distance on each 
side of the ditch. 

Ditches can be dug with dynamite at any time on a couple 
of hours' notice, as dealers who handle explosives can be found 
in almost every locality. In wet weather, especially after heavy 
rain falls, when it may be neccessary to cut ditches and channels 
in a hurry, this method is invaluable. 

It is just as easy to dig a curved ditch with dynamite as it is 
to dig a straight one, because the center of the ditch follows the 
line of holes in which the dynamite is loaded. 

Although a channel or ditch dug with dynamite, and particu- 
larly one cut through dry or sandy ground, is not so even and 
regular at first as one dug by hand or machine, it will square up 
very soon after water fills it and, as the banks have a good slope, 
there is little caving afterward. 

How it is Done 

Dynamite digs the cleanest and most regular ditches in wet 
clay or gumbo. In this kind of ground it is not necessary to put 
the holes so close together, or to use quite so much dynamite as 
^hen the clay is only damp. In dry clay, sand marl, or other 
loose ground, the weaker and consequently less expensive grades 
of dynamite give best results. 

If the soil is very light, it may occasionally be necessary to 
"trim up" the ditch a little by hand after the blast, but even then 
it is at least 25 per cent, cheaper to dig the ditch with dynamite 
than by machine, and it is also many times quicker. 

When ditches are dug in wet clay it is best to explode the 
dynamite with blasting cap and waterproof fuse. If the holes are 
spaced the proper distance, only the hole in the middle of the 
row requires a blasting cap, as the explosion of the dynamite in 
this hole explodes that in the next holes on either side, and so on 
almost instantaneously from hole to hole, to the two opposite ends 
of the row. This plan of exploding the dynamite in one hole 
iby that in the next hole, instead of putting a detonator in each 

47 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 



hole, works best in wet ground, and when the ground and water 
are not cold. The temperature of the air, water and ground is 
an important point. If it is below 50 degrees P., the dynamite 
may become so insensitive that the charge in one hole will not 
explode the next one. It is, therefore, recommended that when- 
ever possible, this work be done when the ground is wet and the 
weather warm. 

When all conditions are favorable the holes can be spaced 
two feet apart, put down three feet and loaded with one car- 
tridge, 1^x8 inches of 50 per cent, or 60 per cent, dynamite, 
for a ditch four feet deep and six feet wide at the top. Three 
men can dig a thousand feet of this ditch in three days, with 
two hundred and fifty pounds of dynamite, and at about one-third 
of the cost of any other method. Pifty, sixty, or even a greater 
number of holes, can be blasted simultaneously with a blasting 
cap in the middle hole only. Sometimes as much as a quarter 
of a mile of ditch is blasted in this way at once, but unless a number 
of men are loading the holes it is not advisable to blast so much 
at one time, because the dynamite in the holes first loaded will be 
under water so long, before the last holes are loaded, that it may 
deteriorate. The middle hole should be loaded heavier than the 
others — say, with three cartridges instead of one cartridge, one of 
them being the *'pnnier"; that is, the cartridge in which the blast- 
ing cap crimped to the fuse has been placed. It is also a good 
plan to load the next hole on either side of the middle one with 
three cartridges instead of one. When water covers the holes, or 
almost fills them, it acts as a tamping, and no other tamping is 
necessary. The middle hole should be loaded last, so as not 
to keep the blasting cap and fuse under water longer than abso- 
lutely necessary. The blasting cap SHOULD BE CAREFULLY 
CRIMPED TO THE FUSE WITH A CAP CRIMPER, and NOT with a 
knife or the teeth. After the blasting cap has been crimped to the 
fuse, thick grease or tallow (not oil) should be spread over the 
fuse where it enters the blasting cap. You cannot be sure that 
everything will work satisfactorily, unless you use a high-grade 
of waterproof fuse and a No. 6, or stronger, blasting cap. Blast- 
ing caps are weakened by dampness, so it is always better to use 
a grade stronger than one which would only just explode the 
dynamite. 

49 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

Always cut the end of the fuse squarely across, and always 
put the fresh cut end in the blasting cap. 

The iron or steel bars for punching the holes in the ground 
should be a little larger in diameter than the dynamite cartridges, 
sharpened to a blunt point on one end and at least two feet longer 
than the depth of the ditch. F'or making holes in dry ground, 
where the bar is driven down with sledges or mauls, it is a good 
plan to have it only long enough to extend about four inches 
above the surface when the hole is deep enough. This short bar 
should have a ring or collar welded on close to the top, so that 
it can be easily loosened with a crowbar if it becomes fast. The 
bars should have a blunt point and not a long, tapering one, because 
the dynamite cartridge cannot get to the bottom of a hole made 
by the latter. 



BAR FOR PUNCHING THE HOLES 

The labor of punching the holes may be reduced by spacing 
them farther apart, but when this is done it is necessary to increase 
each charge of dynamite. If under the conditions described above 
the holes were spaced three feet instead of two feet apart, the 
charge of dynamite in each one should be increased to one and a half 
1 y^ X 8-inch cartridges. 

Ditches up to sixteen feet wide can be dug with dynamite, 
but for this width three rows of holes placed alternately, as shown 
below, are necessary. 

ooooooooo 

oooooooo 
ooooooooo 

The rows should be about the same distance apart as the 
holes are in the row. 

When deeper ditches are wanted, the holes must be put 
down deeper, and larger charges of explosives be used. 

A ditch, two or two and one-half feet deep, and five feet 
wide, can be blasted through wet clay or gumbo at a cost of 1 ^4 
cents, or less, per lineal foot of ditch. 

51 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

One Missouri farmer recently stated that a ditch which he 
had just dug through swampy land with dynamite for $100, would 
have cost $400 or $500 if it had been dug in any other way. 

When the clay or gumbo is only moderately wet or damp, 
it is necessary to locate the holes closer together, if a blasting 
cap is used in only one of them, as the shock from exploding 
dynamite will not carry as far through the dryer ground, as it 
will through wet ground or water; and it will not carry as far 
through light or loose earth, as through that which is close and 
heavy. The distance between the holes in clay, which is only 
damp, should not be greater than a foot and a half; and in wet 
sand, from a foot to a foot and a half. 

When the ditch is to be dug through dry ground, it is neces- 
sary to have a detonator (blasting cap and fuse or electric fuze), 
in each hole, and to tamp with damp earth above the explosives 
to the top of the hole. The best plan is to fire a number of holes 
at one time by electricity, so that each charge can help the other. 

Although it takes a little longer to dig ditches with dynamite 
in dry ground than it does in wet ground, because each hole 
must be primed, it is but little, if any, more expensive as the holes 
can be spaced from two and a half to three feet apart, and a lower 
grade of dynamite can be used. The proper explosive for blast- 
ing dry ground in this way is dynamite of 25 per cent, to 40 per 
cent, strength, of which about two 1 % x 8-inch cartridges should 
be used in each hole. 

In blasting ditches, as in all other blasting, the grade and 
quantity of explosives to use, and the spacing and depth of bore 
holes, are governed by the kind of ground in which the work is 
to be done, whether it is wet or dry, and by the size of the ditch 
to be dug. 

If lateral ridges are left in the bottom of the ditch, the holes 
should be spaced a little closer in the next attempt. Sometimes 
the material blasted out is thrown farther away from the ditch 
if the holes are put down at an angle of about 45 degrees instead 
of vertically. 

There is a great deal of difference between the way an explo- 
sive acts in close, wet ground, which offers considerable resistance, 
and the way it acts in open dry ground, offering very little resist- 
ance. Consequently it is necessary, in order to get the best work 

52 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

out of explosives; that is, to make them do the most work possible 
for the money they cost, to use one kind in close, wet ground, and 
another kind in open, dry ground. It is also cheapest to space the 
holes and to fire the explosives differently according to the kind of 
ground. 

As ground in which ditches are to be dug is not always either 
wet clay or dry loam, but often ranges between the two, it may 
be necessary to modify the two methods described above in the 
spacmg of bore holes and size of charges. 

When shale or rock is encountered in digging ditches, holes 
must be drilled and fired as in any other kind of rock blasting. 
The depth and spacing of these holes, and the kind and quantity 
of explosives which will give best results, depends altogether on the 
nature of the rock. 

DRAINING SWAMPS 

In comparatively flat, open country underlaid by a clay sub- 
soil, swamps, often several acres in extent, occupy the lower areas. 
These swamps are natural reservoirs, generally formed by drain- 
age filling up the depressions until the water is high enough to 
flow out over the lowest barrier. They are not fed by springs, 
but by the natural drainage. To drain these swamps by means of 
ditches would sometimes require several miles of ditching, which 
in many cases is impracticable. Yet such swamps often cover the 
very best kind of crop-bearing ground, and accordingly any prac- 
tical method by which they can be disposed of, is a matter of great 
interest to many farmers. That many of them can be completely 
drained without ditching, and at very little expense, has been clearly 
demonstrated. This is done by boring holes down through the 
impervious ground in the bottom of the swamps, to the sand, gravel 
or other open material below, and exploding relatively heavy charges 
of 40 per cent, semi-gelatin in the holes. The number of holes 
required depends on the size of the swamps and the thickness of 
the subsoil. Sometimes a comparatively large swamp can be 
permanently dried up by means of three or four well-blasted 
holes in the lowest part of the bottom. Again a row of holes, 
spaced thirty or forty feet apart, across the lowest part of the 
swamp may be necessary. For lasting results, the holes must 
sometimes be drilled as deep as thirty feet, although ten-foot holes 
are often sufficient. A two-inch wood or dirt auger is generally 

53 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

used. This auger is welded to a piece of gas-pipe six or eight 
feet long. The top of this is threaded and a tee attached so that 
a wood or pipe handle can be used to turn the auger. When 
the hole is bored down until the handle of the auger approaches 
the surface of the water, or as low as it can be conveniently operated 
from the raft or boat, the tee is unscrewed, another section 
of pipe attached, and the tee is screwed on to the top of this 
section. This process is repeated until the hole has reached the 
required depth. Then the dynamite is loaded. To do this 
properly a section of two-inch gas-pipe should be pushed into the 
hole for six or eight inches. This pipe should be long enough 
to extend above the surface of the water. Through this the 1 ^ x 8- 
inch cartridges should be pushed, one or two at a time, with a 
wooden stick, to the bottom of the hole, where they will remain 
when the stick is withdrawn, if given a good, firm push. The 
last cartridge should be primed with a No. 6 waterproof electric 
fuze, for good results cannot be expected if fuse and blasting caps 
are used in this work. The electric fuze must have wires long 
enough to reach well above the surface of the water. No tamping 
is required, as the water above the explosive serves the purpose. 
After the primer cartridge is in position, draw out the gas-pipe 
carefully, so as not to pull the electric fuze out of the cartridge. 
The electric fuze wires should then be connected to well-insulated 
leading wire (all connections being carefully waterproofed), and 
the leading wire should be carefully paid out, while the raft or 
boat is moved fifty to one hundred yards away. The other ends 
of the leading wire should then be attached to the blasting machine, 
the operation of which will explode the charge in the bottom of 
the hole. The approximate charge for a hole ten feet deep is seven 
cartridges, for a hole fifteen feet deep, twelve cartridges, and for 
a hole thirty feet deep, twenty-five cartridges, 1^x8 inches, of 40 
per cent, semi-gelatin. 

A few years ago a Kansas farmer, who had owned a farm 
for twelve years with a forty-acre swamp on it, blasted a row of 
holes spaced about thirty-five feet apart, across the lowest part where 
the water was three feet deep. The swamp dried up immediately 
and the first year sixteen hundred bushels of oats were raised on 
the ground it had occupied. Since then four crops of alfalfa per 
year have been raised on this ground. 

54 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

ROAD BUILDING 

No farm can be properly conducted without good, hard roads, 
and the only way to have good roads about the farm is to lay 
them out correctly in the first place, and then grade and ditch 
them properly. This grading and ditching always takes more or 
less digging, but by using dynamite to loosen up the hard ground 
or shale, and to blast out the rock, roads can be built quickly and 
at comparatively little expense. 

To blast cuts not more than five feet deep through hard earth 
or shale, drive a bar down to within six inches or a foot of "grade,'* 
and in the hole thus made explode one or two cartridges of 30 
per cent, dynamite. Be sure to first tamp the charge properly. 
Holes should be spaced five to eight feet apart. In this way the 
material to be removed is not only broken up so that it can be 
shoveled very easily, but a good portion of it is spread over the 
surrounding land and does not have to be handled. 

Roads can be ditched with but little shoveling, by explod- 
ing about half a cartridge of 30 per cent, dynamite in holes a foot 
deep and two to three feet apart along the line of the ditch. 

If it is necessary to cut through rock, the holes should be 
drilled closer together and heavier charges used. When crushing 
stone for country roads and turnpikes, it will be found much cheaper 
to locate the crusher at a ledge, and blast out the rock, than to 
keep teams traveling over the whole countryside, gathering up 
boulders and hauling them to the crusher. 

DIGGING CELLARS AND FOUNDATION TRENCHES 

No farmer wants to put an expensive barn or house on a poor 
foundation, and it would be hard to find a greater benefit to a 
farm than a good cellar. The proper location for a building is on 
a knoll, and the rock often comes nearer to the surface on the knolls 
than it does in the hollows. This makes both good foundations 
and good cellars possible with the help of dynamite. With sharp 
drills, a couple of sledges, 40 per cent, dynamite, fuse and No. 6 
blasting caps, a cellar can be excavated, and the rock squared 
up for foundation piers or walls, in a short time and at little expense. 
In fact, it takes little, if any, more blasting to put a house or barn 
on rock than it does to quarry elsewhere the necessary stone for 

55 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

cellar walls and foundations. The rock blasted out can also be used 
for the walls and piers. 

If it is not possible to locate the house and barns on rock, then 
the foundation trenches and cellar in the clay, gravel or shale can 
be dug much more quickly and easily if the material is loosened up 
with an occasional charge of 30 per cent, dynamite. 

The stone for cement construction of all kinds can be easily 
blasted out in the proper size for the crusher with 40 per cent, 
dynamite. 

WELL SINKING 

Wells are frequently sunk through rock or ground which can- 
not be dug to advantage without the aid of explosives. In well 
sinking, when rock is reached and the earth or sand above is prop- 
erly shored, a circle of four or five holes should be drilled about 
half-way between the center and the sides of the well, pointing at 
an angle, that will bring them close together near the center when 
they are three or four feet deep. These holes should be loaded 
about half-full of 40 per cent, gelatin dynamite, with damp clay 
tamping packed firmly above this to the top of the hole, and 
then fired simultaneously from the surface by electricity. The 
result of this shot will be to blow out an inverted cone or funnel 
in the center, and the bottom can then be squared up with another 
circle of holes drilled vertically as close to the walls as possible. 
If the well is large it may be necessary to drill a circle of holes 
between the inner and outer circle. The above process should 
be repeated until the well has passed through the rock or has been 
sunk to the necessary depth. Nothing weaker than No. 6 electric 
fuzes should be used to explode the gelatin dynamite. 

DIGGING HOLES FOR POLES AND POSTS 

Much time and labor can be saved by using dynamite as an 
assistant in digging holes for poles and posts. Only enough explo- 
sive should be used to make the digging easy, as larger charges 
j loosen up the ground to such an extent that it is difficult to make 
i the poles or posts as firm as they should be. This applies particu- 
larly to large poles. 

57 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

The best way to do this blasting is to drive a crowbar down 
into the ground within six inches of the desired depth of the hole. 
In the bottom of the hole made by the crowbar, explode from 
one-quarter of a cartridge to one cartridge of 40 per cent, dyna- 
mite. Do not tamp, as this would cause the explosive to loosen 
the ground too much. 



59 



THE THIRD STAGE 



PREPARING THE LAND 
FOR CROPS 



PLOWING WITH DYNAMITE 
DYNAMITE IN THE ORCHARD 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 



PLOWING WITH DYNAMITE 

PLOWS have been used for many centuries to break up the 
surface of the earth, so that seeds could be easily planted 
and grow better; but from the forked stick of the savage 
to the great gang plow of the modern farmer, plows have rarely 
broken up the ground satisfactorily to a depth greater than eight 
or ten inches. 

In rich, open soil that is properly fertilized, plowing will break 
up the ground sufficiently for many years, but eventually a hard 
stratum, sometimes called "plow hardpan" or "plow sole," forms 
just below the depth to which the plow reaches. This "plow sole" 
must be broken up, or the land will begin to fail. Even when "plow 
sole" does not exist, land that has been bearing crops for many years 
is wonderfully improved, if the lower soil is broken up and aerated 
in every six or eight years. 

Land that has only a thin surface soil underlaid by an im- 
pervious or partly impervious subsoil, sometimes known as "hard- 
pan," will not produce crops at all, or else only produce them in a 
very limited degree, or for a short time only, unless the subsoil 
be thoroughly broken up. Where the fertile surface soil is fairly 
deep, attempts have been made to farm this land by means of drain- 
age and irrigation, the surplus water of the wet season being drained 
off, and the lack of water in the dry season being overcome by irri- 
gation. This system is expensive, and at best gives only temporary 
relief, for in the end it tends to increase the thickness of the hard- 
pan, and in some localities may be responsible for alkali soil. The 
heavy rains of the wet season often cannot penetrate this subsoil, 
so the water rushes to the low ground, carrying much of the valuable 
surface soil with it. There, still unable to sink through the hardpan, 
it prevents plowing until the water evaporates or causes the seed to 
rot if it is already in the ground. 

63 




SUBSOIL BLASTING — THE RESULT — CORN RAISED ON THE BLASTED GROUND 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

In places where irrigating is carried on extensively, the ground 
sometimes becomes so saturated that the water level rises close to 
the surface. This makes the land practically worthless for vegeta- 
tion of any kind other than pasturage. If alkali exists in the soil, 
or is deposited by irrigation, no crops can be raised when the ground 
water reaches the level of the plant's roots. 

In some parts of the country, ridges or "dikes" are run at regu- 
lar intervals over all of the higher ground, to keep the thin surface 
soil from being washed away. Considerable time and labor is re- 
quired to make these dikes, as well as to keep them in shape, and 
they take up ground that should be bearing crops. On land of this 
kind, drainage, irrigation, dikes, late plowing and rotting seed could 
all be done away with if the subsoil or hardpan were properly 
broken up. 

There is only one practical way to upturn and aerate these 
lower soils, or to shatter hardpan, and that is by blasting. 

Subsoil and hardpan can be plowed just as effectively with 
explosives as surface soil can be with a plow, and just as cheaply, 
too, for it is only necessary to do this subsoil plowing once in a 
number of years. 

Blasting subsoil has been practiced for some years by a few 
progressive farmers in different parts of the country. These men 
have had wonderful results in the way of increased crops on land 
already under cultivation, and in transforming into excellent grow- 
ing land that which would have been worthless without dynamite. 

It is only lately, however, that the benefits from plowing with 
dynamite have become generally recognized. The Department of 
Agriculture, the various agricultural colleges, and men prominently 
identified with farming in different parts of the country, are all now 
making a careful study of this question in order to determine the 
strength, quantity and kind of explosives, the most effective way of 
using them, and the depth and spacing of the holes, for best results. 
Farmers everywhere are experimenting on their own account. 
Many are already claiming that subsoil plowing with explosives 
will be a common custom in a few years, and will represent millions 
of dollars in increased crops from lands already under cultivation, 
and more millions from land now producing nothing but weeds and 
considered entirely worthless. Along with this increase in land pro- 
duction, will be a reduction in the expense of draining and irrigating; 

65 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

because, when hard subsoils are properly shattered with explosives, 
the surplus water falling in rainy seasons sinks down to the lower 
soils, and does not need to be drained off. Neither is it necessary 
in dry seasons to provide water by means of irrigating to keep the 
crops from drying up, because the water which has settled deep in 
the ground during the heavy rams is drawn up in the dry season 
by the plant roots as they need it. 

Forty-nine per cent., representing about two and one-half mil- 
lion bales, of the damage done to the 1909 cotton crops was due 
to either excessive or insufficient moisture. This loss could have 
been largely prevented by blasting the subsoil so that it could absorb 
the surplus water in wet weather and retain it for the dry weather, 
when the plants need it. 

In some places the subsoil is so close to the surface, and so 
hard, that the plant roots grow down to it, but are unable to pene- 
trate it. Ground of this nature will not produce crops amounting 
to anything until the subsoil has been blasted, no matter how much 
it is drained and irrigated. After being blasted, however, it often 
becomes wonderfully productive. 

Different methods of loading and spacing the holes are prac- 
ticed in different places, the usual distance apart in the South being 
4 to 8 feet, with a charge of about one-fourth of a 1 /4 x 8-inch 
cartridge of 30 per cent, or 40 per cent, dynamite in each hole. 
In Kansas and other Western States, holes are spaced from 15 
to 30 feet apart and loaded with a charge of from one to one and 
a half 1 % X 8-inch cartridges of 1 5 per cent, or 25 per cent, dyna- 
mite, in each hole. The proper place to locate the charge so that 
it will shatter a maximum area of subsoil, is two to three feet below 
the surface, if the hard pan is thin, and the holes are placed four 
to eight feet apart. In thick hardpan, with the holes 1 5 to 30 feet 
apart, the charge should be located about six inches above the bottom 
of the hardpan. 

In California, hardpan has been blasted very effectively and 
cheaply with 5 per cent, low powder. A slow-acting dynamite 
does better work than a quick one, because its effect is more spread- 
ing. The difference in the results of the use of slow explosives 
and of quick ones on hardpan is illustrated on pages 66, 68 and 70. 

The exact size of the charge, the proper spacing of the holes, 

67 




il 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

and their depth, depend largely on the kind of subsoil to be broken, 
its thickness and distance below the surface. 

When the bore holes are 1 5 feet or more apart, it is best to 
explode a number of charges simultaneously by means of electricity, 
but when the bore holes are closer it answers the purpose about as 
well to explode the charges with fuse and blasting caps. 

Some years ago F. G. Moughon, of Walton County, Georgia, 
blasted a piece of land with charges of about one-third of a 1^x8- 
inch cartridge of dynamite m bore holes, two and a half to three 
feet deep, spaced eight and ten feet apart. This ground has pro- 
duced smce then phenomenal crops of watermelons, averagmg 50 
to 60 pounds each. J. H. Caldwell, of Spartanburg, S. C, ad- 
vocates holes two feet deep, spaced four feet apart. He explodes 
in each of these about one-fourth of a 1 -J^ x 8-inch cartridge of 30 
per cent, dynamite. These holes are not thoroughly tamped, but 
when they are loaded enough loose dirt is pushed into each one 
to close up the opening and hold the fuse upright. Although this 
lack of tamping undoubtedly results in wastmg some of the force 
of the dynamite, Mr. Caldwell believes that it is cheaper in the 
end, because of the saving of time m loading the holes. When the 
ground was not blasted, the corn had to be planted 1 8 inches apart 
in the row, with rows 4 feet apart. The blasted ground was able 
to nourish stalks six inches apart, with the rows spaced as before. 
The corn on the blasted ground grew almost one-half taller than 
that on the unblasted ground and produced a crop 33 per cent, 
greater. This corn was weighed by a committee of the Chamber 
of Commerce, of Spart-^inburg, S. C, and report made to Col. 
E. J. Watson, United States Commissioner of Agriculture, of 
Columbia, S. C. The committee also stated that the blasted ground 
produced fuller ears and firmei grains. 

It is impossible, in the limited space of this handbook, to give 
details concerning the results of the subsoil blasting done by many 
of those who have profited greatly by it, but J. T. Garrett, of 
Laurens, N. C, who greatly improved his corn and watermelon 
yield, and M. T. Williams, of Medicine Lodge, Kan., who in- 
creased the value of his land almost tenfold for alfalfa, must be 
mentioned. 

The entire cost, including labor and explosives, of blasting an 
acre of ground with holes 3 feet deep and 1 5 feet apart, using a 

69 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

half-cartridge, 1^x8 inches in each hole, amounts to about $18. 
The same charge in holes spaced 20 feet apart brings the cost per 
acre down to about $11. If charges of one cartridge be used in 
holes 20 feet apart, the entire cost will be about $13 per acre. 

In many parts of California and some of the other Western 
States true hardpan exists. The only way in which land underlaid 
by this hardpan can be made worth anything, is to break up the 
hardpan with explosives. Then fruit trees will grow and bear just 
as well as anywhere else. 

Tools Used When Blasting Subsoil 

In the South the holes in which the dynamite is exploded are 
made by driving mto the ground with sledges a steel bar, two and 
a half to three feet long, and a little larger in diameter than the 
dynamite cartridges. This bar has either a flange or a lug near the 
top, so that after it has been driven down it can be loosened with 
a crowbar. The bar should have a short point, for a long, tapered 
point would make a hole so small at the bottom that the dynamite 
cartridge would lodge part way down. An illustration of this bar 
will be found on page 51. 

In Kansas the holes are usually bored with a 2-inch dirt or 
wood auger having a long shank, as the bottom of the hardpan 
there, is often several feet below the surface. A crowbar to drive 
stones out of the course of the auger is also useful. 

If you have not tried blasting subsoil, or "plowing with dyna- 
mite," we suggest that you lay off an acre, or else a plot 100 feet 
by 200 feet in one of your fields, and blast it as described above. 
Plant the whole field and note how much better and heavier the 
crop is on the blasted ground. An experiment of this kind will 
cost but little, and should be the means of greatly increasing your 
income in the future. 

DYNAMITE IN THE ORCHARD 

Dynamite is an exceedingly valuable aid to the successful 
growing of fruit trees. Those who have tried it are firmly convinced 
that no method of excavating the hole for the roots of the young 
tree, whatever may be the soil conditions, is so economical, quick 
or productive of as desirable after-results, as blasting with dynamite. 

71 




I 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

Dynamite should be used when planting trees, because one 
cartridge of 30 per cent, dynamite will excavate instantly the hole 
in which to plant the tree, and because the explosion of the dynamite 
loosens up the soil for many yards around, giving the tree roots a 
better opportunity to spread out than when the hole is dug by hand. 
The explosion also destroys all insects and grubs in the ground 
nearby. Every year or so during the life of the trees, small charges 
of 30-per cent, dynamite should be exploded midway between them, 
and some four or five feet below the surface of the ground. This 
tends to keep the soil open so that it will hold moisture and gives 
the tree roots every chance to spread, besides keeping the ground 
free from grubs. 

When older trees begin to fail, it is sometimes of much benefit 
to detonate a charge of explosives directly under them. To do this 
a hole should be started seven or eight feet away from the tree 
and driven downward and toward the tree on a dip of about forty- 
five degrees. When the hole is in twelve feet, the bottom will be 
from eight to nine feet directly under the trunk of the tree. This 
hole should be **sprung,'* or **chambered," with a I % x 8-inch 
cartridge of 40 per cent, dynamite, and then loaded with from 5 to 
10 pounds of low powder, with tamping above the charge to the 
mouth of the hole. The explosion of this charge breaks up the hard 
soil below the roots of the tree, so that it can hold a greater quantity 
of moisture, which the tree roots will take up as they require it. The 
beneficial results from this blasting may not appear in the next crop, 
but will be manifest in succeeding ones for many years. 

When breaking up hardpan between the trees in the California 
orange groves, it is the custom to bore down with an auger just 
through the hardpan — usually about four feet below the surface. 
This hole is "sprung" or "chambered" with one-half of a 1^4 ^ 8- 
inch cartridge of stumping powder (10 per cent.), and then, after 
being loaded with about one and a half pounds of low powder, and 
well tamped, is blasted. 

If the soil is inclined to be swampy, heavier charges, exploded 
deeper in the ground, will break up the lower impervious stratum, 
and permit the surplus water to sink into the earth, where it will 
be conserved, and afterwards given up to the roots of the trees as 
they require it. 

73 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

An example of the great benefit derived from the use of ex- 
plosives, for excavating the holes in which young trees are to be 
planted, was recently brought to our attention by a well-known fruit 
grower, who reported that he planted nine peach trees a few years 
ago to determine positively whether anything was to be gained by 
using dynamite. Three of the trees were planted in holes made 
by drilling a two-inch auger hole three to four feet deep, and ex- 
ploding a charge of dynamite in the bottom; the other six trees were 
planted in holes of the regulation size dug by hand. Three years 
later the three trees which had been planted in the blasted holes 
were strong and healthy, and produced between five and six bushels 
of very fine peaches; but the other six trees, planted on the same 
ground without blasting, bore practically no peaches at all, both 
fruit and leaves having shrivelled up and dropped off during the 
dry season. 

A similar experience was that of a Western farmer, who set 
out an apple orchard more than twenty years ago. After digging a 
number of holes for the young trees, he decided that life was too 
short for such slow methods, and drove to town, where he bought 
a case of dynamite, some blastmg caps and fuse from the hardware 
dealer. With this he blasted holes for the remaining trees, and 
to-day, twenty years later, he reports that the trees planted m the 
blasted holes are superior in every way to the others, and that they 
have produced better fruit, and more of it, ever since they began 
bearmg. 

One successful Missouri fruit grower states that he would never 
think of replanting where a tree had died out, without blasting the 
hole for the new tree with dynamite. The new trees then are not so 
likely to be attacked by wet rot and other diseases, and are markedly 
better than those planted in holes which are not blasted. 

So many other similar cases have been brought to our attention 
that we feel every fruit grower should give the question of using 
explosives careful and thorough consideration. 



75 




A DIFFICULT PROBLEM 

Although the trea had been cut from this stump for many years 

the stump was still comparatively solid. 



THE LAST STAGE 



KEEPING UP THE FARM 



BREAKING UP ICE GORGES 
STARTING LOG JAMS 
BREAKING UP LOG ROLLWAYS 




LU *• 
>«t- 



KEEPING UP THE FARM 



AFTER a farm has been properly laid out and drained, with 
all buildings erected, roads graded and fences up; when 
wells have been driven, fruit trees planted and subsoil 
blasted, there is still work to be done year by year, and in much 
of this work the use of dynamite means a great saving of time and 
money. Its use for blasting up subsoil in land that is deteriorating, 
for blasting under and between failing fruit trees, and for cleaning 
up occasional stumps and boulders overlooked in the first clearing, 
has already been referred to. It is also necessary for keeping roads 
and ditches in shape, and is indispensable in those parts of the 
country where ice may form gorges in the streams in the early 
spring. Unless these gorges are promptly broken, great damage 
may be caused by the water backing up behind them, sometimes 
overflowing farms and towns, and carrying away buildings and 
bridges. 

Dynamite is also of great service in starting log jams, breaking 
up "rollways," etc., in the districts where timbering is carried on. 

BLASTING ICE 

Ice in streams sometimes forms jams or gorges 10 to 40 feet 
high. When water backs up behind these, bridges may be carried 
away and other great damage and loss to the community result. 
All of this can be prevented at a small expense by the use of dyna- 
mite. 

To break up floating ice so that a gorge will not be formed, 
charges of dynamite should be exploded on the surface of the ice, 
the size of the charge depending on the thickness of the ice. If the 
floating ice is in large sections, the work of blasting should be con- 
ducted on a broad, slow-running part of the stream, where it is 
possible to get on to the ice either directly from the shore or in 
boats. Successive charges, consisting of a number of cartridges of 
40-per cent, dynamite, tied together in a bundle, should be laid 

79 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

on the ice and exploded with fuse and blasting cap, until the ice 
is properly broken. When the streams are narrow, the charges of 
explosives may be thrown on to the ice from the shores or, if the 
ice is running swiftly, the charges may be dropped on to the cakes 
from the down-stream side of bridges. The charge to be thrown 
on the floating ice should be prepared by tying securely together 
in a bundle the required number of cartridges, the cartridge in the 
middle of the bundle having been primed with a blasting cap and 
waterproof fuse. The place where the fuse enters the blasting cap 
should be well coated with soap or thick grease to keep water from 
getting into the blasting cap and damaging it. A block of wood, 
a stone, or some other object that would prevent its rolling should 
then be tied to the charge, which, after the fuse is lighted, should 
be thrown or dropped as nearly as possible on to the middle of the 
ice cake. Particular attention must be given in this operation to 
the length of the fuse. Fuse generally burns from two to three 
feet per minute, and when the fuse is lighted, with the dynamite 
still in the hands of the operator, extra time for possible emergencies 
should be allowed. 

To blast out ice gorges the charge, usually of from 3 to 25 
pounds of 40-per cent, dynamite, should be pressed into a hollow 
or crevice at what appears to be the weakest part of the gorge. 
This charge should be exploded from a distance by electricity, so 
that the operator can be on shore when the explosion takes place 
and the gorge moves out. If the first shot does not start the gorge, 
the process should be repeated until it is broken. To open great 
ice gorges, such as the one that formed in the Niagara River in April, 
1909, much larger charges are necessary. In one blast on this 
work a charge of 2500 pounds of dynamite was exploded. 

Watering places for stock along the banks of streams can be 
easily kept free from ice in winter by the use of a little dynamite 
from time to time. 

Since ice blasting is always done in cold weather, it is necessary 
to give particular attention to having the dynamite thoroughly 
thawed. If this is not done, poor results will follow. 

81 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

** STARTING" LOG JAMS 

Forty per cent, semi-gelatin is invaluable for breaking log jams. 
A charge exploded on a log, above or below w^ater, will cut it in 
two as readily as can be done with an axe, with the advantage 
of the operator being at a safe distance when the jam "starts." 

BREAKING UP *' ROLL WAYS" 

Forty per cent, dynamite can be used to great advantage in 
breaking up "rollways" of logs, large quantities of this powerful 
explosive being used each season by the lumbermen. A case of 
this explosive, thawed in the morning, will, if covered by an old 
coat or blanket and protected from the cold, be ready for use at 
any time during that day. The huge piles of logs, frozen and bound 
together with snow and ice, can be instantly loosened with a little 
dynamite instead of prying them apart slowly and laboriously with 
cant hooks and levers. At a season when time is truly money, 
the dynamite used in this way saves many times its cost. The cases 
of dynamite can be transported easily and safely if properly 
handled. No logging camp can afford to be without it a single day 
when engaged in this work. 



82 



EXPLOSIVES AND 
BLASTING SUPPLIES 



HOW TO HANDLE, STORE 
AND USE THEM 



BLASTING BY ELECTRICITY 



PRINCIPLE OF EXPLOSIVES 



BLASTING Explosives are divided into two general classes, 
known as high explosives and low explosives; dynamite and 
low powder are examples of the former, and blasting powder 
of the latter. They are solids, having bound up in themselves very 
powerful energy, which, when properly directed, can be made to 
do an enormous amount of valuable work. To get them to do this 
work economically, they must be closely confined in the midst of 
the material which is to be broken or thrown out, and then exploded ; 
that is, instantly changed from a small volume of a solid to a verj 
large volume of a gas. Low explosives (blasting powder) will do 
but little, if any work, if not tightly confined or corked up when 
exploded, but high explosives change from a solid to a gas so 
quickly that they will jar and break material on which they are 
lying when they explode, even though they are confined very little, 
as in **mudcapping" or "blistering" boulders, or if not confined at all, 
as when floating ice is blasted. 

Low explosives are exploded by a spark, but a spark will not 
explode high explosives, although it may ignite them, and the heat 
and pressure caused by burnmg in a confined space may result in 
an explosion after a time. 

High explosives can only be properly exploded by a very 
powerful shock. This shock is brought about in their use by ex- 
ploding a detonator, which has been inserted in the charge of ex- 
plosives. This detonator is either a blasting cap, which is exploded 
by a spark from the fuse, or an electric fuze (pronounced fu-zee) 
which is exploded by a fine wire, superheated by an electric current. 

When fuse and blasting caps are used it is necessary for the 
blaster to cut the necessary length of fuse from a roll, and fasten 
the blasting cap to the freshly cut end of the fuse with a cap crimper. 
The electric fuze is furnished with the two wires sealed into it. 

Blasting powder is exploded by the spark from fuse or an 
electric squib, no detonator being required. 

85 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

The Detonator 

When ''high explosives" were first manufactured, they were 
not as safe to handle or use as the properly made ones now are. 
Consequently they could be exploded with a small and weak de- 
tonator. The standard explosives now manufactured cannot be 
completely exploded, and give best results, if anything weaker than 
a No. 6 detonator is used with them. Nevertheless, many dealers 
will sell to inexperienced consumers No. 3 or No. 4 detonators, 
simply because the price is a little lower than that of stronger ones. 
This they do regardless of the fact that the reduction in price is 
much more than offset by the loss of power due to the incomplete 
detonation of the explosives with which these weak detonators are 
used. 

Storage 

Explosives should be stored in a dry, well-ventilated place, 
not warmer than 80 or 90 degrees Fahrenheit. They should always 
be kept under lock and key, so that children or irresponsible people 
will not have access to them, and should not be stored in a locality 
where hunting or other shooting may be done, unless they are kept 
in a bullet-proof building. 

Most high explosives freeze at a temperature between 43 and 
50 degrees Fahrenheit, and, when frozen, will explode either only 
imperfectly or not at all. Frozen dynamite should therefore never 
he used under any circumstances. 

Packages and Transportation 

High explosives are put up in cartridges, generally 1^x8- 
inch, and then packed with sawdust in wooden cases. They can, 
when thus packed, be shipped on freight trains or carried in wagons, 
with but little danger of explosion. There have been instances 
where they have been dropped, and the cases smashed, without an 
explosion resulting, showing that these high explosives stand very 
rough treatment; still, it should never be forgotten that they are 
explosives, and we would particularly direct the reader's attention 
to pages 99 to 101 of this handbook, where stress has been laid on 
"What Not to Do." If these instructions are observed, the user 
need have no fear of an accidental explosion. 

86 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

Thawing 

There are various ways of thawing high explosives, but the 
only safe methods are those which thaw sloTvl]) and gradually. 

Burying dynamite in water-tight boxes in manure is a safe 
and fairly effective way to thaw it, provided the manure is fresh. 




THAWING KETTLE 



The safest and best way is in a ''thawing kettle." A thawing 
kettle is a double-galvanized iron bucket, having an outside space 
for hot water and an inner water-tight receptacle for the dynamite. 
Some thawing kettles are made in one piece, while others are in 
effect two pails, the outer one for hot water and the inner one for 
the dynamite. (See illustrations.) 




THAWING KETTLE 

Never thaw dynamite by putting it near a fire, nor in the oven, 
nor against a stove or steam pipe. Do not try to thaw dynamite 
by exposing it to steam, nor by soaking it in hot water. 

It is not at all necessary that the cartridges should feel warm. 
All that is necessary is to have them soft all the wa]^ through. 

87 



PLACING CAP ON FUSE 




TAKING OUT CAP 



^^.c^ 





INSERTING 
FUSE AND CAP IN 
CARTRIDGE 






FOLDING 

CARTRIDGE PAPER 

AROUND FUSE 



TYING CARTRIDGE 
PAPER AROUND FUSE 



ONE METHOD OF MAKING A PRIMER WITH BLASTING CAP AND FUSE 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

Every user of dynamite who has occasion to thaw it should 
make it a rule never to heat water in the thawing kettle, but in some 
other receptacle, and then, after removing the dynamite, pour the 
hot water into the water compartment. This water should not be 
so hot that it would burn the hand. Water may be heated in the 
outer pail of two-piece thawing kettles, provided the inner pail has 
been removed; but it is never safe to put a one-piece thawing kettle 
over a fire, even after the dynamite has been removed, because 
enough nitroglycerin may have leaked out from dynamite previously 
thawed, to cause an explosion if the thawing kettle is put over a 
fire. 




THAWING KETTLE 

A simple and effective thawing arrangement may be made by 
suspending a small pail or bucket containing the dynamite in a 
larger bucket partly filled with warm water. Care must be taken 
to prevent any of the water from getting into the inner pail, which 
should have a tight-fitting lid. The whole should be covered with 
a piece of carpet, or an old coat, until the dynamite has thawed. 

Priming 

Placing the detonator in a cartridge or charge of high ex- 
plosives is called priming it, and the cartridge or part of a cartridge 
with the detonator in it is called the ''primer" or ''primer cartridge." 

The first step in the preparation of the primer is to cut the 
necessary length of fuse from the roll, cutting it squarely across and 
not diagonally. After carefully inserting the fresh-cut end as far 
as it will go into the blasting cap, fasten the latter securely to the 
fuse with a cap crimper. When crimping the blasting cap to the 
fuse, the crimp should be made hear the end which the fuse enters, 
so as not to disturb in any way the explosive which the blasting 

89 



// 



CUTTING FUSE ^^^AJ^,. 



^ PLACING CAPON FUSE 








MAKING HOLE IN 
SIDE OF CARTRIDGE 






TAKING OUT CAP 



-'^^!® 




INSERTING 

FUSE AND CAP IN SIDE 

OF CARTRIDGE 



TYING STRING TO FUSE I 1 




TYING FUSE 
TO CARTRIDGE 



ANOTHER METHOD OF MAKING A PRIMER WITH BLASTING CAP AND FUSE 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

cap contains. An attempt to crimp the blasting cap near the other 
end would be Hkely to cause it to explode. The crimp should be 
made secure enough to prevent the fuse from pulling out of the 
blasting cap during the charging and tamping of the bore hole, and, 
what is quite as important, particularly in wet work, the crimp 
should be tight enough to keep water out of the blasting cap. A 
coating of soap, tallow or thick grease, spread over the fuse where 
it enters the blasting cap, will help greatly to keep the water out. 
This grease should not be applied until after the blastmg cap has 
been crimped to the fuse. Oil should not be used for this purpose, 
as it may soak into the fuse and damage it. 

Be sure to cut the fuse long enough to allow it to extend several 
inches from the mouth of the bore hole when the primer is in place, 
and also long enough for the blaster to reach a place of safety before 
the charge explodes. Fuse burns from two to three feet per minute. 

To prime a dynamite, or other high explosive cartridge, with 
blasting cap and fuse, make a hole in the end of the cartridge after 
unfolding the paper shell, or in the side of the cartridge near one 
end, with a small pointed stick, about the diameter of a lead pencil. 
This hole should not be much larger in diameter than the blasting 
cap, for an air space around it always detracts from the force with 
which a blasting cap shoots into the explosive. The blasting cap 
should not be so deep in the cartridge that the fuse will come in 
contact with the explosive for any appreciable distance, as side spit- 
ting of the fuse usually ignites the explosive. 

Best results will be had if the blasting cap is pointed straight 
down into the primer cartridge. 

When the blasting cap has been put in the end of the cartridge, 
the paper must be folded carefully about the fuse, and tied securely 
with a piece of string. When the blasting cap is inserted in the 
side of the cartridge near the end, the fuse is held in position by 
tying it with a double loop of string around the cartridge. Both of 
these methods of priming are clearly shown in the illustrations on 
pages 88 and 90. 

Charging 

Having primed the cartridge in the manner described, insert 
it in the bore hole and push it carefully home. It is sometimes well 
in dr\) ground to slit the paper shells lengthwise before putting the 

91 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

cartridges into the bore hole. Push them firmly into place, so that 
they will fill up the diameter of the hole, for crevices or air spaces 
greatly lessen the power of an explosive. If more than one cartridge 
is used in a charge, it is only necessary to prime the top or outside 
one, but in the bore hole each cartridge must touch the one pre- 
viously loaded. If any space between the cartridges occurs through 
falling dirt or stones, or through the sticking of a cartridge in the 
bore hole, a partial misfire may result. 

Tamping 

After the charge is pressed home, as directed, put in two or 
three inches of fine dirt or sand, and tamp (pack) lightly. Then 
fill up two or three inches more of the hole with tamping material, 
packing it in a little more firmly. After five or six inches of tamping 
covers the charge, the tamping may be pressed firmly into place 
without danger of premature explosion. The tamping material 
should be packed as firmly on top of the charge as can be done 
without moving the electric fuze or blasting cap and fuse in the 
primer, but it is not safe to tamp by a blow any stronger than can 
be given by hand. Fill the bore hole up with tamping until even 
with the surface. The firmer and harder the tamping can be made 
(without overlooking the above precautions) the better will be 
the results. If the bore hole is not properly tamped, the charge 
is likely to ^'blow out," or at any rate some of its force will be 
wasted. 

Be sure the tamping is done with a wooden stick. Never use 
a metal bar or anything having metal parts. 



NOTE 



Always be careful, when using dynamite, not to taste it nor 
get it on the hands, for the smallest quantity will nearly always 
cause a violent headache. It is an excellent plan to wear a pair 
of old gloves, which should be destroyed before they become sat- 
urated with the nitroglycerin in the dynamite. With a little care, 
a great deal of dynamite can be handled before it is necessary to 
destroy the gloves. 

92 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

BLASTING SUPPLIES 

When detonating high explosives with fuse and blasting caps, 
the only suppHes necessary besides the fuse and blasting caps, and 
the tools for making the hole and for tamping, are the cap crimper 
and the thawmg kettle. The latter has been described under the 
paragraph on ''Thawmg," page 87. 

When the blasting is done by electricity, a blasting machine, 
coil of leading wire and electric fuzes take the place of fuse and 
blasting caps. A spool of connectmg wire and roll of insulatmg 
tape should also be provided. A leadmg wire reel is not a necessity, 
but saves time and keeps the leading wire in good condition. 

Fuse 

Fuse is made in several different grades, put up in double coils, 
consisting of two single coils of 30 feet each, and packed in cases 
containing from 300 to 6000 feet. In wet work, ''double-tape" 
or "triple-tape" fuse should be used, while ''single tape" or 




COIL OF FUSE 



"cotton" will answer in dry work. Fuse should be stored in a cool, 
dry place to keep it from hardening so that it will break when it is 
unrolled, or from getting soft and defective. In cold weather fuse 
becomes stiff and must be unrolled very carefully to keep it from 
breaking. Most fuse burns from two to three feet per minute. 

Blasting: Caps 

Blasting caps are small copper cylinders closed at one end, 
which contain a sensitive and highly explosive compound. They 
must always be handled carefully, kept away from heat or sparks, 
and must not be subjected to heavy knocks or jars. They should 
never be carried loose in the pocket, nor permitted to lie about where 
children may find them. They are very dangerous in the hands 
of a child or irresponsible person. They should never be stored or 

93 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

carried with dynamite, because they are more easily exploded by 
accident than is dynamite, and if they explode in close proximity 
to dynamite they will probably cause it to explode also, and do 
great damage. If blasting caps are to do good work, they must 
be stored in a perfectly dry place, and must not be permitted to 
lie in a damp place for even a short time before using. The charge 
which they contain is very quickly damaged by moisture, and, al- 
though it may explode when damp, it explodes with so little force 
that it may not detonate the charge of dynamite, or may only partly 
detonate it. 



No 6 BLASTING CAP 

Blasting caps are put up in tin boxes, containing 100 each. 
These boxes are then packed in wooden cases, containing from 500 
to 5000 blasting caps. They are manufactured and sold in six 
sizes— No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8, but nothing 
weaker than the No. 6 can be depended on to develop the full 
strength of the explosive. 

Cap Crimpers 

A cap crimper is inexpensive, and absolutely necessary if the 
blasting cap is to be properly fastened to the fuse. Fastening 
blasting caps to fuse with a knife or with the teeth is exceedingly 
dangerous and inefficient. 

BLASTING BY ELECTRICITY 

When a good deal of blasting is to be done, it is usual to set 
off the blast by means of a blasting machine and electric fuzes. In 
this way any number of charges, from one up to forty or more, can 
be fired simultaneously. This is found very convenient when it is 
necessary to get rid of a large stump or an extra big boulder, as 
frequently several charges fired at the same time will do more work 
than the same charges fired successively, or than one charge as big 
as all of the smaller ones combined. 

A very little thought will show that more work will be done 
when firing a number of blasts simultaneously than when firing them 
singly, while a little experience will teach that much is to be gained 

94 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

by firing even single shots electrically. Another advantage gained 
in firing by electricity is, that in case of a misfire (which can rarely 
happen by this method) , it is unnecessary to wait a considerable 
time before returning to the work, as must be done when using 
fuse. 

Directions 

Use electric fuzes, leading and connecting wire, and blasting 
machine, instead of fuse and blasting caps. The electric fuze wires 
must be long enough to extend several inches out of the bore hole, 
and care must be taken when tamping not to break these wires or 
damage the insulation on them. If more than one charge is to be 




METHOD OF CONNECTING TWO LEADING WIRES TO A THREE-POST BLASTING MACHINE 

fired at one time, separate the two electric fuze wires extending 
from each hole and connect one of these wires to one extending from 
the hole on one side, and the other one to one of the wires extending 
from the hole on the other side, and so on, until all are connected 
together in a string, with one free wire extending from the first hole, 
and another extending from the last hole. If the electric fuze wires 
are not long enough to reach each other, use a piece of connecting 
wire to join them. 

Be sure that all wire ends are scraped clean and bright before 
they are connected together. 

The charges having all been connected as directed above, the 
free wire of the first hole should be joined to one of the "leading'^ 
wires, and the free wire of the last hole to the other leading wire. 

95 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 



The leading wires should be long enough to reach a point at a safe 
distance from the blast — say 250 feet, at least. 

All being ready, and not until everybody is at a safe distance, 
connect the leading wires to the binding posts on the top of the 
blasting machine, through each of which a hole is bored for the 
purpose, and bring the wing nuts down firmly upon the wires. 

Now, to fire: If using a push-down blasting machine, take 
hold of the handle, lift the rack bar (square rod toothed upon one 
side) to its full height and push it down with all force, bringing it 
to the bottom of the box with a solid thud, and the blast will be 
made. 





miTn 



METHOD OF CONNECTING THREE LEADING WIRES TO A THREE-POST BLASTING MACHINE 

The Blasting Machine 

The ^'push-down" blasting machine is made in three sizes: 
No. 2, which will fire up to 20 electric fuzes at one time; No. 3, 
which will fire up to 30 electric fuzes at one time; and No. 4, which 
will fire up to 50 electric fuzes at one time. The No. 3 size is made 
with three posts, when so ordered, without extra cost, and the No. 4 
size is always made with three posts. The rated capacity of a three- 
post blasting machine is increased about 50 per cent, when three 
leading wires are used. 

Blasting machines with three posts can be used with either two 
or three leading wires. When used with two leading wires, one 
wire is connected to the middle post and the other to either one of 
the outside posts. When used with three leading wires, those from 

96 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

the two outside posts are connected to the electric fuzes on the 
ends of the circuit, and that from the middle post is connected to 
the electric fuze wire, or the connecting wire, somewhere near the 
middle of the circuit. Leading Wire 

At least 250 feet double of leading wire should be provided, 
so that the blaster will be out of danger when he fires the shot. If 
the blast is a large one, it will probably be necessary for the blaster 




COIL OF LEADING WIRE 



to be 300 or even 500 feet away. Leading wire is sold in 250-feet, 
300-feet and 500-feet coils. 

It is sold by the pound, and weighs about two pounds to the 
hundred feel. Connecting Wire 

Connecting wire is used to connect electric fuze wires in ad- 
joining bore holes when the wires are not long enough to reach 




SPOOL OF CONNECTING WIRE 

each other. It is wound on spools holding one pound or two 
pounds, and is sold by the pound. 

Electric Fuzes 

The electric fuze is a blasting cap having two insulated copper 
wires fastened into it with a composition plug. These wires are 

97 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

joined together in the cap by a very fine and deHcate wire, which 
rough handhng may break and make the electric fuze worthless. 
The charge which they contain is just as sensitive to shock, and just 
as easily affected by moisture, as that of the blastmg cap; so the 




ELECTRIC FUZE 



same rules for storing and handling must be observed. Electric 
fuzes are put up 23 or 50 in pasteboard cartons, which are packed 
for shipment in wooden cases. They are made m four grades, 
numbered 4, 6, 7 and 8, and with wires from 4 feet to 30 feet long. 
The strength of electric fuzes is exactly the same as that of blasting 
caps bearing the same number, and nothing weaker than the No. 6 
grade can be depended on for best results from high explosives. 

TO PRIME A CARTRIDGE WITH AN ELECTRIC FUZE 

The correct way to prime a high explosive cartridge with an 
electric fuze is to follow the same methods as when fuse and blasting 
cap are used. (See pages 88 and 90). 

The common custom of taking one or more loops, or half- 
hitches, around the cartridge with the wires themselves, after inserting 
the electric fuze cap in a hole made diagonally in the side of the 
cartridge near one end, is always to be condemned. The principal 
objection is that the looping of the wires is very likely to break the 
insulation, causing short circuits, or leakage of electric current in 
wet work. Sometimes even the wires themselves are broken. 

Ordering 

If there is an uncertainty as to what grade of explosive should 
be ordered for any work, a letter, addressed to the nearest office of 
some responsible dynamite manufacturer, telling just what work 
is to be done, will have careful attention. 

If the work to be done warrants it, the manufacturers will 
send to any part of the world, at their own expense, a competent 
man to explain the use of explosives. 

98 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

Precautions to be Observed in General with 
Regard to Explosives 



DON'T forget the nature of explosives, but remember that with 
proper care they can be handled with comparative safety. 

DON'T smoke while you are handling explosives, and DON'T 
handle explosives near an open light. 

DON'T shoot into explosives with a rifle or pistol either in or out 
of a magazme. 

DON'T leave explosives in a field or any place where stock can 
get at them. Cattle like the taste of the soda and salt- 
petre m explosives, but the other ingredients would prob- 
ably make them sick or kill them. 

DON'T handle or store explosives in or near a residence. 

DON'T leave explosives in a wet or damp place. They should 
be kept in a suitable, dry place, under lock and key, and 
where children or irresponsible persons cannot get at them. 

DON'T explode a charge to chamber a bore hole and then im- 
mediately reload it, as the bore hole will be hot and the 
second charge may explode prematurely. 

DON'T do tamping with iron or steel bars or tools. Use only 
a wooden tamping stick, with no metal parts. 

DON'T force a primer into a bore hole. 

DON'T explode a charge before every one is well beyond the 
danger zone and protected from flying debris. Protect 
your supply of explosives also from danger from this 
source. 

DON'T hurry in seeking an explanation for the failure of a charge 
to explode. 

DON'T drill, bore or pick out a charge which has failed to ex- 
plode. Drill and charge another bore hole at least two 
feet from the missed one. 
99 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

DON'T use two kinds of explosives in the same bore hole, except 
where one is used as a primer to detonate the other, as 
where dynamite is used to detonate low powder. The 
quicker explosive may open cracks in the rock and allow 
the slower to blow out through these cracks, doing little 
or no work. 

DON'T use frozen or chilled explosives. 

DON'T use any arrangement for thawing dynamite other than 
one of those recommended by the dynamite manufac- 
turers. 

DON'T thaw dynamite on heated stoves, rocks, sand, bricks or 
metal, or in an oven, and don't thaw dynamite in front 
of, near or over a steam boiler or fire of any kind. 

DON'T take dynamite into or near a blacksmith shop or near a 
forge on open work. 

DON'T put dynamite on shelves or anything else directly over 
steam or hot-water pipes or other heated metal surface. 

DON'T cut or break a dynamite cartridge while it is frozen, and 
don't rub a cartridge of dynamite in the hands to complete 
thawing. 

DON'T heat a thawing house with pipes containing steam under 
pressure. 

DON'T place a hot water thawer over a fire, and never put dyna- 
mite into hot water or allow it to come in contact with 
steam. 

DON'T allow thawed dynamite to remain exposed to low tem- 
perature before using it. If it freezes again before it is 
used, it must be thawed again. 

DON'T allow priming (the placing of a blasting cap or electric 
fuze in dynamite) to be done in a thawing house or 
magazine. 

DON'T prime dynamite cartridges, or charge or connect the bore 
holes for electric firing, during the immediate approach 
or progress of a thunderstorm. 

100 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

DON'T carry blasting caps or electric fuzes in your pocket. 

DON'T tap or otherwise investigate a blasting cap or electric fuze. 

DON'T attempt to take blasting caps from the box by inserting 
a wire, nail or other sharp instrument. 

DON'T try to withdraw the wires from an electric fuze. 

DON'T fasten a blasting cap to the fuse with the teeth or by flat- 
tenmg it with a knife — use a cap crimper. 

DON'T keep electric fuzes, blasting machines or blasting caps in 
a damp place. 

DON'T attempt to use electric fuzes with the regular insulation 
in very wet work. For this purpose secure those which 
are waterproof. 

DON'T worry along with old, broken leading wire or connecting 
wire. A new supply won't cost much and will pay for 
itself many times over. 

DON'T handle fuse carelessly in cold weather, for when cold it 
is stiff and breaks easily. 

DON'T store or transport blasting caps or electric fuzes with high 
explosives. 

DON'T store fuse in a hot place, as this may dry it out so that 
uncoiling will break it. 

DON'T "lace" fuse through dynamite cartridges. This practice 
is frequently responsible for the burning of the charge. 

DON'T operate blasting machines half-heartedly. They are built 
to be operated with full force. They must be kept clean 
and dry. 

DON'T cut the fuse short to save time. It is dangerous economy. 

DON'T expect a cheap article to give as good results as a high- 
grade one. 

DON'T expect explosives to do good work if you try to explode 
them with a detonator weaker than a No. 6. 

101 



THE PENNSYLVANIA 

RAILROAD AND 

THE FARMER 



^ 



Creating Traffic tlirough Co-operation 
of Farmer and Railroad 



TWO years ago farmers in the Eastern States had never 
seen an educational train, and tales of one would no 
doubt have been received w^ith some misgivings. To-day 
it is no unusual sight to see a hundred or more farmers waiting at 
a small Pennsylvania Railroad way-station for a special train that 
is to bring them a message on '^good roads," or one dealing with 
the latest scientific methods of orchard development, improving corn, 
alfalfa, and various staple crops. 

The conservation of our natural resources is receiving no 
stronger support than that afforded by the railroads in this educa- 
tional campaign. Much that is left of the farms to-day is skimmed 
milk. Our forefathers took the cream. Every sand-drift and 
worked-out acre is a monument to the indifference of the farmer 
who refuses to believe that somebody knows more about farming 
than his grandfather. 

In the last analysis, domesticity of the highest type is being 
promoted by this policy of enlightened self-interest which the rail- 
roads are pursuing. Farms are being improved, and the farmer is 
being taught to make money. The practical illustration of 
new methods and ideas is creating better farmers; they are happier; 
their families are happier, and citizenship is bettered. 

'*You are taking coals to Newcastle!" the skeptics tell the 
railroads, but the latter know better. They have talked with the 
farmers. They know that from sections of New Jersey, where 
potato growing on a commercial basis was not thought of ten years 
ago, hundreds of thousands of barrels are now being shipped every 
season. The railroads have found it profitable to induce farmers 
to increase the number of cattle on their farms, because live stock 
must have feed and railroads must haul it; because dairy products 
are in demand and must be carried to market. 

Through the schools of a number of the corn-growing States, 
boys and girls are being stimulated by prizes to plant little patches 

104 



CREATING TRAFFIC THROUGH CO-OPERATION 



of corn. Out of each community where an exhibit is held, ten prize- 
winning ears are sent to the county exhibit. The best ten at the 
latter are entered in a State show, and later the States compete. 
The Maryland, Delaware and Virginia Railway is trying the same 
plan in Virginia; prizes are being offered children for the largest 
potato grown by themselves. 

II 

Interest in scientific agriculture is growing. The city and the 
farm are being brought closer together. Even to-day, experienced 
railroad men are predicting that only a short time will elapse before 
the country will be dotted with small experimental farms established 
by the railroads to show the farmers in each section just what pos- 
sibilities are within their reach. 

This agricultural awakening is bearing fruit abundantly. 
Crops that were formerly supposed to belong only to one section 
are being introduced into others; farmers are experimenting in 
growing various cereals, fruits and vegetables, in much the same 
way as a railroad experiments with all manner of appliances, look- 
ing for the best. Opportunities without number are opening up 
every day before both the railroad and the farmer, by reason of the 
newly formed partnership. 

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has in the past three 
years been conducting an active campaign in the interests of scien- 
tific farming. Co-operating with State Agricultural Colleges, 
special educational trains and steamboats have been run through 
various sections of the country, and the enthusiasm that has been 
aroused has proved to the Railroad Company the wisdom of its ef- 
forts. The intense interest displayed on every hand has given evi- 
dence of the fact that the farmers are in a receptive mood, and that 
only a little headway must be made before results in increased traffic 
will be apparent. 

The value of staple crops grown in the United States last 
year — crops such as corn, hay, wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, to- 
bacco, etc. — was more than $3,600,000,000. In Pennsylvania 
alone, the value of staple farm crops for the year was $1 57,000,000, 
and there were some 224,000 farmers who shared in this production. 
It has been estimated by the Chief Agronomist of the State College 
of Agriculture of Pennsylvania that if each of these 224,000 farm- 
ers would increase the yield of corn I bushel to the acre, the addi- 

105 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

tional revenue to them from corn grown in the State would amount 
to $1,044,000. Further than that, $780,000 would roll mto the 
pockets of these farmers if they would select and test their seed 
corn carefully and thus add ten kernels to each ear of corn grown 
by them. 

III. 

Fifteen years ago, Sanford, Fla., was one of the great 
orange-growing centers in that State. Thousands of carloads were 
shipped to Northern markets every year. In 1895, a cold wave 
sent the thermometer scudding down to a degree seldom reached 
in that section of Florida; every orange tree thereabouts was frozen, 
and the farmers were in a pitiable plight. One of the more pro- 
gressive growers did not sit around and cry over his ill-luck, but 
started experiments to see what he could grow on his land that 
had so suddenly fallen in value. He began with the cultivation 
of celery, and the success he has had, as well as that enjoyed by 
his neighbors, is seen in the fact that the shipments of celery from 
Sanford last season amounted to some 1 200 carloads. In addition, 
various vegetables are being raised in other seasons on the same land. 

It is this sort of development for which the Pennsylvania 
Railroad is working. Just as it has been adding second, third and 
fourth tracks to its hne, just so it is seeking the same intensive de- 
velopment of the agricultural districts. The Railroad realizes that 
with expansion limited, as it is to-day, by reason of the network 
of lines that cover the country, there must be an internal unfolding 
of resources. 

Several years ago, a representative of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road was compelled to while away a few hours between trains in 
a small town. He inquired of the station agent what was to be 
seen in the neighborhood and was advised to take a boat trip up 
the river. In the course of a ride of an hour or more, he noticed 
a number of vineyards lining the river banks. The railroader was 
an observing man, and his first thought was, "To what place are 
those grapes shipped and over what road?" All thoughts of catch- 
ing the train left his mind, and a horse and wagon was summoned 
to take him on a tour of the different farms. After a few interviews, 
he learned that the grapes were used for wine, which was shipped 
over another railroad to market. 

106 



CREATING TRAFFIC THROUGH CO-OPERATION 

In the travel of a day, the freight agent saw every grower 
of grapes in the district, and, after some hesitation, they agreed to 
ship some of their product over his road if he would provide means 
of getting it to the Railroad, and find some one to handle it at the 
market. Trouble loomed up, however, when a commission man in 
a nearby city said that a carload of white Niagara grapes would 
flood the market in his town; but he finally agreed to take them on 
consignment, and arrangements were made for the grapes to arrive 
on a Saturday morning. On Friday afternoon a wagon, provided 
by the railroad, went from farm to farm and collected the grapes, 
taking them to the car. The latter arrived at its destination about 
4 o'clock the next morning, and the grapes were distributed among 
the retailers. In the meantime, large placards had been printed by 
the freight agent, reading: 

"Take Home a Basket of White Niagara Grapes for 
1 5 Cents." 

At 9 o'clock on Saturday morning, every basket of the grapes 
had been sold and people were calling for more. Such was the 
start of a traffic in grapes from one station, which is to-day shipping 
nearly a thousand carloads every season. 

The Railroad provided the transportation, the market, the buy- 
ers, the advertising and the customers, yet not one whit of expense 
did it incur outside of its ordinary expenses of hauling, other than 
the hire of a horse and wagon for a few hours, and the cost of print- 
ing the placards. 

Another striking illustration of this policy was afforded several 
years ago on the Long Island Railroad. The owner of a small 
pond of water in New York State harvested about 5000 tons of 
ice every winter. He sold it in the summer to cottagers. The traffic 
manager of the Railroad called on this iceman and found that he 
actually sold only about 1500 tons a year. 

''Why don't you ship your ice to the city?" he inquired. 

''Oh, I have no loading facilities, and if I did, I don't know 
anyone in the city who would buy the ice," was the reply. 

"We will arrange for such facilities, and will also see that 
you find a market for your ice." 

The bargain was struck. The Railroad provided facilities and 
found a customer for the ice, a large ice-cream factory. That 
winter 20,000 tons of ice were shipped from the small pond that 

107 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

had formerly yielded but 1 500 tons in sales. So much for the 
winter. The traffic man went to the officers of an ice company 
and induced them to lease the icehouse near the pond for the season 
that they might supply the people of the town with ice in the sum- 
mer. When the small town was not shipping ice to the city, the 
city was shipping ice to the village. As the traffic man put it : "We 
have to get it coming and going." 

To induce the Florida farmers to grow pineapples, the Florida 
East Coast Railway supplied the seed and agreed to build a side- 
track into each farm that undertook the cultivation of pineapples. 
The result has been that this season the shipments of this delightful 
fruit from points on the East Coast Railway will amount to a 
million crates. 

IV. 

These incidents illustrate how alive to opportunities are the 
railroads, and now comes the latest move in this direction — one that 
bids fair to work wonders for agricultural States; namely, the edu- 
cational campaign that is being waged by means of schools on 
wheels. When the mountain would not come to Mahomet, Ma- 
homet went to the mountain ; so it is with the railroads, which carry 
to the gate of every farm along their lines practical lessons in farm- 
ing. They are supplying the trains and have secured the co- 
operation of the State Agricultural Colleges to supply the teachers. 
The latter are not a silk-stocking lot, but practical farmers, who 
talk in practical terms; they are men who have made a study of 
soil conditions, and know the needs of each locality. They deliver 
their talks in the cars, which are fitted up as lecture rooms. 

Stops of 45 minutes are usually made by these farmers' specials 
and not more than five minutes is lost in getting the people in and 
out of the cars. The moment the train stops, there is a rush for 
seats, for it is not infrequent that the crowd at a station is so large 
that an overflow meeting is held, with a lecturer talking from the 
rear platform of a car. There is no boisterousness and no levity at 
the meetings. The farmers are serious in their endeavor to secure 
ideas that will help them in their work. 

In the audiences at these schools on wheels are found farmers 
from every class. Old men hobbling on canes are seen sitting beside 
the farmer who has just reached the age of manhood. There are 
women anxious for lessons in poultry farming. There are tenants, 

108 



CREATING TRAFFiC THROUGH CO-OPERATION 

laborers, and farm owners. They have come with samples of corn, 
alfalfa, and other things they raise, that they may be told how to 
improve them. They are taught how to plant and prune as well 
as to spray fruit trees properly, that they may combat the dreaded 
San Jose scale and other pests. The desire for information is as 
apparent in the old man of 80 as in the younger farmer. Intelligent 
questions from the auditors meet with intelligent replies, in words 
that can be understood by all. 

A record was kept of the attendance at the lectures on a farm- 
ers' special that recently made a three-day trip through Eastern 
Pennsylvania on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and it showed that 
no less than 3000 farmers were present. These farmers in many 
instances came from miles around. At practically every station 
there were hundreds of vehicles of all descriptions. The boat- 
shaped Conestoga wagon stood alongside of the automobile, while 
the ox-cart hobnobbed at the same hitching post with a fine pair of 
mules attached to a farm wagon of latest design. 

What can they teach a farmer in 40 minutes? Fundamental 
principles, which, if applied, will make a difference in the number 
of kernels on an ear of corn; principles which, if applied, will in- 
crease the yield of an acre of wheat, of oats, or potatoes. 

Below is an extract from a lecture as given on a farmers^ 
special, showing how quickly they reach the meat of the topic under 
discussion. At Gap, Pa., last spring, the professor, who was ad- 
dressing a hundred or more farmers in the alfalfa car, began his 
talk in some such manner as this: 

"An acre of good alfalfa produces twice as much digestible 
nutriment as an acre of red clover. It is therefore profitable for 
our farmers to make every effort to establish alfalfa fields. Your 
climate is favorable to alfalfa, which can be grown on a variety of 
soils. The most favorable is a gravelly loam with a porous sub- 
soil. There must be drainage, fertility, lime and inoculation. Al- 
falfa is a lime-loving plant, and if you haven't a limy soil, apply 
lime at the rate of 1000 to 2000 pounds per acre, etc." 

In addition to the lecture which the farmer hears on the train, 
he receives without charge copies of various pamphlets treating m 
detail of the subjects under discussion, and he may take these pam- 
phlets home with him for reference. 

109 



HANDBOOK O F EXPLOSIVES 

The success attained with farmers' trains caused the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad to go a step further in this direction. It sent a 
special train over parts of its line to collect the agents in charge 
of stations in rural communities, that they themselves might visit 
the Pennsylvania State College for an inspection of the experiment 
station maintained there. The authorities at the college gave their 
hearty co-operation, devoting an entire day to showing the agents 
just what work was done there, and also what could be accom- 
plished by the farmers in the State if they would follow certain 
principles that have been found by scientific experiment to be 
cardinal to the success of a farm. The agents returned to their 
homes enthusiastic missionaries in the cause of good farming — 
intensive farming. 

The Pennsylvania Railroad has this year undertaken the dis- 
semination of farming literature. This is being done, the company 
announced, to offer to farmers in the territory which it serves, the 
benefits of scientific research and improvement in methods resulting 
from careful study and experiment. The first pamphlets issued 
were on "Alfalfa," and ''The Use of Lime on Land." Some 
30,000 copies were distributed. Later, four booklets on orchard 
development were sent out. The subjects of these were "Planting,'^ 
* 'Cultivation," "Pruning," and "Spraying." 

V. 

The railroads are imparting these new ideas in a novel manner, 
and, further, they are demonstrating that the ideas are practical. 
It is at this point that the experimental farm of a railroad is not 
only useful, but essential. 

Five years ago, the president of the Long Island Railroad 
established an experimental farm on 1 acres of what was supposed 
to be waste land — the poorest land on Long Island. A competent 
man was placed in charge and was given carte blanche to go ahead 
and see what he could do in the way of raising truck. A year later 
another farm was established by the Long Island Railroad. Last 
summer 300 different kinds of plants, vegetables and fruits were 
grown on these farms. A head of cabbage as large as a wheel- 
barrow was grown on land that five years ago the company was 
told was good for nothing but salt ponds. The farmers were aston- 
ished — dumfounded — to see the opportunities within their reach. 

110 



CREATING TRAFFIC THROUGH CO-OPERATION 

The result is that truck farms have multipHed on the eastern end 
of Long Island and a large freight traffic has been created. 

The Long Island experimental farms have been managed on 
economical lines. Money has not been lavished on them. On the 
contrary, they have more than met their own expenses. So suc- 
cessful have they been that the Pennsylvania Railroad established 
a similar farm on the Delaware Peninsula — already one of the 
greatest truck-growing sections of the country. Here, however, 
a different proposition must be met. Some of the land has been 
exhausted; instead of increasing the fertility of the soil all the time, 
farmers have permitted it to deteriorate, until to-day great difficulty 
is experienced in growing crops that 1 years ago were produced 
in abundance. The Railroad intends to demonstrate the fact that 
there is a great opportunity there to improve the land. 

All of the efforts on this experimental farm will not be directed 

to that end, however, as the Delaware Peninsula is fortunate in 

having both a soil that, for the most part, is as fertile as any in 

the country, and farmers whose intelligence is as far advanced as 

that of the farmers of any section in America. The Railroad now 

intends to demonstrate what vegetables and fruits and staple crops 

can be grown on the peninsula, in addition to those that are now 

being cultivated there. 

VL 

The Railroad, however, must do more than create traffic. 
After persuading the farmer that he can make a greater profit by 
varying his crops and raising certain vegetables or staples that he has 
not been growing, the Railroad must assist him to market his crop 
profitably. 

To meet this contingency the Pennsylvania Railroad is under- 
taking to exploit the agricultural districts through which it runs. 
The plan aims at supplying to commission and produce merchants 
desiring to buy, a list of reliable growers and shippers of com- 
modities in various territories. 

In addition, the Railroad supplies information that may be de- 
sired regarding the commercial interests of different districts. If 
any one is seeking a farm, a manufacturing site, or a suburban home, 
the company supplies a list of real estate agents, and a full descrip- 
tion of available properties. 

When a railroad creates traffic, and markets as well, it must 

111 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

offer a train service that will place the commodity in the most favor- 
able market in the best possible condition. This is done by the 
Pennsylvania Railroad through the operation of preference freight 
trains on fast time schedules, so arranged that the freight will reach 
the market at the time when commission merchants make their de- 
liveries to their customers. 

In this manner does the Railroad supply a market, and, by so 
doing, while improving the condition of the farmer, it receives a 
revenue from hauls to various parts of the system, instead of a haul 
to one market, and that one near by. The acreage planted in 
produce increases, and a corresponding growth is felt in the traffic 
offered the Railroad for shipment. 

Agents of railroads scour the country for advance information 
about farm crops. They realize the extent of a tonnage, the value 
of which is expressed in billions of dollars. Special agents go out 
into the byways and hedges to see the growers themselves. They 
obtain by personal interviews mformation which enables them to 
estimate correctly what crops will be offered for transportation. In 
this way, cars are provided at different stations at appointed times 
and crops moved with dispatch. 

For instance, the Pennsylvania Railroad makes an official esti- 
mate every year of the peach and pear crops of the Delaware 
Peninsula. This is sent to buyers in the different markets, who 
are enabled to regulate their contracts accordingly. 

VII. 

What does it all mean to the Railroad? It means there will 
be more fertilizers to haul, more farm implements, more raw material 
from which these tools are made, more crops to haul, and more pas- 
sengers to carry; it means that the Railroad will be doing its duty 
to the public, to its stockholders in the intelligent exercise of its 
initiative, and, when reduced to a finality, that the Railroad is per- 
forming its share of the work which must be done by the newly 
formed partnership. Railroad and Farmer, if agricultural communi- 
ties are to progress and prosper. 




112 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
MAR 28 19U 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 




002 758 429 9 ^ 



INCREASE 
THE CROP 

PER ACRE 




USE OF DYNAMITE 
ON THE FARM 



Issued by 
THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



HoUinger Corp. 



